Praise for What Comes After

“What I loved most about What Comes After is the way the characters—in the wake of a great tragedy—quietly, kindly reach out to one another. The loss of two teenage boys forces the characters to face truths about the boys, and therefore themselves. JoAnne Tompkins writes about the people in this small town with wisdom and grace, and I’m grateful to have read this novel.”
— Ann Napolitano, New York Times-bestselling author of Dear Edward

“What Comes After is a tender, wise debut, both grave and hopeful. In telling the story of the violent act that rocks a small community—and what emerges from the ashes—JoAnne Tompkins explores responsibility and forgiveness, connection and loss, the families we’re born into and the ones we create. What Comes After asks whether we are inevitably shaped by the wounds we inherit—and the ones we give ourselves—or whether transformation, and redemption, are possible.”
— Chloe Benjamin, New York Times-bestselling author of The Immortalists 

“Though What Comes After begins with the quick jaggedness of sorrow, it soon becomes an intricate journey across the soft, tender landscape of solace. It offers faith without dogma, love without melodrama, and healing that leaves well-earned scars. I found it a beautifully satisfying portrait of people who are terribly wrong about themselves, who discover astonishing relief when they accept their heartbreaking truths.”
— Cara Wall, author of The Dearly Beloved

“A moving, life-affirming page-turner. JoAnne Tompkins has a deep appreciation for the power of human connection and the magic that can happen when people reach across biological relationships to create the makeshift family or community that they need. This novel is a reminder that family goes beyond blood, held in love, and we are not alone.”
— Whitney Otto, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Make an American Quilt

“This is a book for the ages. A powerful, compassionate page-turner, What Comes After dives deep into the best and worst of humanity and comes out singing. This is a story of families failed and made, of lives lost and found and taken, and of anger and forgiveness—elusive, precious, and overwhelming. JoAnne Tompkins is a clear-eyed reader of souls, and she gives them to us in all their complicated and terrible beauty.”
— Erica Bauermeister, New York Times-bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick The Scent Keeper

“This dazzling debut has the heart and soul of a classic, the propulsive power of a thriller, and the aching beauty of a major work of art. Tompkins’s characters are so brimming with love and hurt that I felt I was living through them as I devoured their struggle for family and forgiveness. Isaac’s spiritual reckoning, Evangeline’s desperate aliveness, and the depth of understanding embodied by one unforgettable dog will stay with me forever. What Comes After is destined to be among the very best books of 2021.”
— Aimee Liu, author of Glorious Boy

“What Comes After is a brilliantly constructed debut novel about how a life can be turned with a single word or action. It is a masterfully layered exploration of the way tragedies can change us, can divide or bring us together, can reveal the path towards forgiveness and healing. Written with a terrific precision of detail and nuance, What Comes After beautifully captures the depth and complexity of human nature, and is one of the best novels I've read in a long time.”
— Anna Quinn, author of The Night Child