AFTERSHOCK

For readers of Celeste Ng and Gail Honeyman comes the compulsively readable upmarket book club debut AFTERSHOCK by Alison Taylor.

Meet Jules, Chloe's middle-aged mother, whose history of chronic pain turns her into an opiate addict in danger of losing her job and the life she has built for herself, and Chloe, her frustrated daughter, a millennial lesbian, clearly not getting the support she needs as she navigates the tough waters of early adult life. Connected by trauma, both mother and daughter are unable to address the emotional impact and secrets surrounding the tragic death of a baby sister, years prior.

Chloe was six when the baby died. Nightmares haunt her still. After Chloe drops out of university to travel for a year, Jules's Oxy dependency quickly becomes problematic. We follow their parallel journeys: Jules struggles to regain control of her life and to come to terms with the emotional pain that has so long manifested itself in her body. Chloe, after a rocky visit with her estranged father and his new family in New Zealand, resolves to go off the map, hoping it will help her understand her place in the world.

When Jules suddenly can't find her daughter, the onrushing emotions are all too familiar. Shared trauma has driven them a world apart, but they will need to find each other again to begin to heal.

Alison Taylor was fired from jobs as a babysitter, a chambermaid, a barista and a farm hand, before spending twenty years as a television editor in Toronto, Ontario. They have previously published in Exile Literary Quarterly and Broken Pencil Magazine, performed deadpan stand-up on various comedy stages and made several internationally screened experimental short films. They now live in Fredericton, New Brunswick with their partner and two bossy felines. AFTERSHOCK is their first novel.