Changes

Lynn is Luke's mother, she lives alone ''in a huge rattling townhouse'' in St Johns Wood, just three roads away from Luke. The house is kept as best as she can keep, the way she always has, since she got married and gave up her life to be a wife and a mother (and a frustrated academic and artist if anyone had bothered to ask). She's a widow now though, and one of her sons has moved away and Luke comes by at predictable intervals and so now, finally, she has a work room workroom and can paint. Secretly. Now, though she's trying to deny it, she knows she's coming to the end. The pain is getting worse, and she declines to have anything much done about it.

Three so very different reason reasons who have absolutely nothing in common and no reason to like each other. But their lives become entwined, and as they do so, so do their past lives.

Both are stories of disasters, of life and death and hurt, of the choices we make and those that are somehow made for us. And ultimately they are stories that show that the degree of choice one has in the matter, might not be relevant in terms of the pain that follows. They are stories not only of keeping secrets, but of ''why'' secrets are kept - and how the secrecy and the reasons for it are always far more damaging than the truth could ever be. They are stories about shame, about being ashamed, when (maybe) there was never any cause to be.

''After Before'' is one of those books that are so difficult to review, because to talk about it, about its real strengths, requires giving away too much of the plot. Part of the pleasure of reading the book, is in the discovery of what went before, discovering it slowly through the breadcrumb trail dropped along the way. The histories are not too hard to guess in essence, but still: being told them up-front does take away some of the point of getting to know the characters slowly. It is only in getting to know them slowly, in seeing only as much of them as they are willing to let you see (even at the one remove of a third -person narrator) that you can fully appreciate them and how they feel.

It's a strong debut, focussed focusing on the fearless telling of two very different lives. The stories of Lynn and her sons become the focal point around which Vera and Emilienne revolve, but it is their stories that are the meat of the tale. Different worlds, different horrors, different solutions, one seeking redemption, the other forgetfulness.

Wayne's masterstroke is to make Lynn the centrepiece, not so overpowering as to dominate the stage, but still strong enough to hold her place at the centre. She has her own mistakes and misconceptions to deal with, and less time to do it in, but she sees a way forward for herself in helping others. This comes as something of a revelation in itself for the 'grand dame' who has lorded it (more properly 'ladied it') over others for most of her life, but even in her giving aid, her formidable not-to-be-nay-said approach is what works. She is straight out of the do-gooding-days-of-the-Raj-expat ex-pat school of entitlement, and Wayne manages to show us that for all the errors and shortcomings of those days, there was still some good in amongst the attitudes that forged them.

If you like this, we think that (although it's somewhat different) you will also enjoy [[Close Your Eyes by Ewan Morrison]]. You might also enjoy [[Chains of Sand by Jemma Wayne]].