How Do You Rebound From Tragedy? Begin by Welcoming the Future
In JoAnne Tompkins’s debut novel, “What Comes After,” a town reeling from unimaginable loss opens its doors to a pregnant stranger.
By Elisabeth Egan
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“What Comes After” opens with a quote from Thomas Merton: “We are already one. But we imagine that we are not.”Credit.TBD
Welcome to Group Text, a monthly column for readers and book clubs about the novels, memoirs and short-story collections that make you want to talk, ask questions and dwell in another world for a little bit longer.
A pregnant teenager wanders out of the woods and into the lives of grieving neighbors. Will her circumstances bring them together or drive an even bigger wedge between two households with ample reason not to get along?