Rhian Ellis

I am the type of person who tries to look at a situation from every angle before making a judgment about it, good or bad. I want to walk around it, peer under it, climb over it and look down from above; I want to make sure I haven't missed a single detail. So when Naomi Ash says "First I had to get his body into the boat" in the very first line of After Life I did not immediately assume she intentionally murdered her boyfriend, Peter Morton. Nowhere does she say as much on page one. Maybe show more Peter Morton had an accident, like falling off the roof or a fatal health episode, like a heart attack. And maybe, just maybe, since Naomi Ash lives in such a remote area she needed to illegally dispose of his body. Thinking a little darker - maybe Peter and Naomi fought and things went horribly sideways. Or maybe his death was a suicide, but he made it look like murder because he wanted to frame her. In the first two hundred pages of After Life the reader cannot be sure of anything at all. For two hundred pages Naomi slowly navigates the story of her childhood, her teenage years, how she became a medium, and her current life in the community of Train Line. She carefully parses out the details of everything but Peter Morton's death. The mystery of what happened to her boyfriend stays tightly under wraps for a good portion of the book.
But the story is worth the wait. In the meantime Ellis writes with an other-worldly aura that keeps the reader entertained. She moves through language with languid grace, like slow moving water. Take for example, the way Ellis describes a voice falling flat in a deep snow-covered landscape. She is correct. If you have ever stood in a winter white landscape you know if the snow is deep enough it has a way of making sound plummet into an eerie depth of alien silence.
The plot of Ellis's short book is simple. Naomi Ash, following in her mother's footsteps, is a medium. She lives and practices her craft in a community called Train Line in the fictional town of Wallamee, in upstate New York. She has let readers know that she continues to carry the secret of disposing of the body of her boyfriend, Peter Morton. The secret has laid buried, just like Peter, for a decade. Like all skeletons, in the closet or otherwise, they eventually resurface and when Peter's bones are discovered, the whole town buzzes with the mystery. Meanwhile, coincidentally, Naomi's mother's trade is growing stale and people are tiring of her. Her radio show is about to be canceled. What better way to jump start a failing career than to solve the mystery of the bones? show less

I’m not sure where I first heard about AFTER LIFE, but when I saw it at the library, I snatched it up. It’s a unique murder mystery in that we know from the first page that the protagonist Naomi Ash has killed her boyfriend Peter, and the mystery is discovering how and why she did it. After his bones are unearthed a decade later, Naomi begins to tell us about it. The story alternates between present day events and Naomi’s memories of past events leading up to Peter’s death.

Naomi is a show more medium, just like her mother. They moved to a spiritualist colony in Train Line, New York, when she was young. Spiritualism is a religious belief that there is an alternate world where spirits of the dead live and certain people (mediums) can communicate with them. One theme that plays back and forth throughout the book is fake versus real. Naomi herself didn’t believe in it as a child as she watched how her mother “fudged” spiritual readings to make it more believable to her clients. Whether her mother was a true medium or not, I don’t know, but Naomi seemed like the real deal to me.

"…and we need each other, the dead and the living. Our lives are meaningless without the afterlife, and well, their lives are meaningless without the…antedeath."

Naomi is one of the most lost and lonely heroines I’ve read. After finishing the book, I’m still not sure how I feel about her. I don’t dislike her in spite of what she did. I mostly feel sad for her and for Peter.

The story was well written, and I enjoyed the rich descriptions the author used for the sights, smells, and characters.

"On the lake, I rowed hard, my feet braced somewhat awkwardly on either side of Peter. Mist still hung over the surface, and droplets clung to my eyelashes and hair. The lake had been carved by glaciers; it was long and slender as a crooked finger."

It’s hard to say what, exactly, AFTER LIFE was about. It was many things. Peter’s death. Naomi’s life. Her relationship with her eccentric mother. Spiritualism. What’s real and what we hope is real.

I enjoyed the author’s engaging writing style. It felt like I was in the story listening to Naomi tell me about her life, and I was hanging on every word. The plot was slow-paced in spots, because she did go into a lot of detail about everyday events, some of them didn’t seem to move the story along, but maybe they would have meaning to another reader.

AFTER LIFE was a haunting tale to say the least, one that left me with lots to think about. I’m glad I read it, and I wouldn’t hesitate to read more from this author. Recommended. show less

(8) This was a great little book - both entertaining and well-written. I am enjoying Nancy Pearl's 'Rediscoveries' series which are little known gems of novels written from 1960-2000 which have gone out of print. (The best part of all is that they are free in the Kindle Lenders Library if you have Amazon Prime!)

This is a story told in the voice of Naomi Ash who is a medium in a modern day spiritualists colony in upstate New York. It is a bit of ghost story, but really more about the show more characters and painting a picture of a place, and about love and regret. There is quite a bit of psychological tension as well as the novel opens up with Naomi burying a body. The novel hummed right along, eminently readable and satisfying with occasional bits of remarkable prose.

I highly recommend this novel to those who like such authors as Morag Joss, Rose Tremain, Shirley Jackson, maybe even Sarah Waters though Waters novels have more gravitas than this. If you are looking for a quick easy read that is not however genre fiction to literally and figuratively 'lift your spirits' this is a perfect though little known choice. show less

I had to think about the impact of this book before trying to write an adequate review. I think the mark of a good book is one that perplexes, challenges and haunts. All three of those are reactions I have to the authors debut novel.

Unlike many mystery books wherein we are introduced to a murder and wonder who did it, After Life begins with a statement by the perpetrator acknowledging her misdeed. The opening line -- "First I had to get his body into the boat" -- sets the tone as throughout show more the book we learn details of the murder, but it isn't until the end, when the reader learns why it occurred.

Naomi Ash by all accounts should not be a like able character, yet in the authors clear, perceptive writing, one cannot help but grow to feel empathy for Naomi.

Deftly weaving a tale of spiritualism, while tracing the roots of this movement from its beginnings in the US, we are transported to Train Line, NY. Therein, the reader feels as though they are a part of the every day happenings of a small town, filled with eccentric, mystical folk who are not above using a little fakery to assist people in reaching their loved ones who have passed to the other side.

Naomi follows in her mother's footsteps and taps into abilities in the spiritualistic realm. Dabbling with her talents, she is sporadically successful in her endeavors, but as with all things in her life, she lacks a drive, gumption and motivation to take control. She is lazy, rarely bathes and fails to develop social skills. She cares little for her appearance, has no friends and seems incapable of sustaining any depth of feeling.

Peter Morton arrives in her life and takes her by surprise. Finding she is capable of love is a unique revelation. Her joy is short term. The book weaves past with present when we learn that ten years ago, she killed Peter and buried his body in the surrounding woods of Train Life.

When a contractor unearths the body, she prays that Peter is not one of the spirits that can communicate with her.

Slow in pace, this book takes the reader by surprise. The author superbly weaves a story of guilt and redemption, of truth and lies, of black, white and gray.

Recommended. show less