We noticed quite a bit of praise popping up this week for Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life. We just put the cover blow-up in our Mystery section and those bright red roses are indeed attention-grabbing, though of course it’s what’s inside that counts. Atkinson tells the story of Ursula Todd, a girl born with a seemingly infinite number of lives, following each life to its inevitable end and beginning again. Scott M. is reading the book for the MysteryPeople blog right now and has already deemed it Atkinson’s best. Apparently the New York Times agrees; they also called Life After Life “her very best” novel in a recent review. The Times went on to say,
” “Life After Life” is ultimately centered on the brutal British experience of World War II, with characters caught in the blitz and Ursula joining a rescue unit for injured civilians. As powerful as the rest of “Life After Life” is, its lengthy evocation of this nightmare is gutsy and deeply disturbing, just as the author intends it to be.”
NPR has an exclusive first read of the novel available. Publisher’s Weekly gave the novel a starred review, saying,
“…it’s clear that Atkinson’s not playing tricks; rather, through Ursula’s many lives and the accretion of what T.S. Eliot called “visions and revisions,” (Atkinson has) found an inventive way to make both the war’s toll and the pull of alternate history, of darkness avoided or diminished, fresh.”
The book hits shelves Tuesday. You can catch Atkinson reading and signing here Sunday, April 21 at 4pm. Here’s the creepy-in-a-good-way trailer:
BookPeople 
Reblogged this on Dancing with Fireflies.
I just saw this book and wanted to start reading it. Thanx for the description
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