Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

A miracle happened, something that hasn't happened for a few years... I read a book - yes, a whole book - in two days. Not only that but I stayed up until the early hours of Saturday morning to finish it. This used to be a common occurence. Once upon a long time ago, before I had kids, I could race through books like the best of them but not anymore. Or perhaps I can.

I won Afterwards a few weeks before Christmas (so huge thank you to @filmvsbook who ran the competition) but have only just got round to reading it. But once I picked it up, it was glued to my hands. I could not put it down.

Afterwards is not a chick lit book, a genre I rarely stray from but I loved it and was gripped.

The blurb:

There is a fire and they are in There. They are in there. Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and runs. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her. Afterwards, Grace must find the identity of the arsonist and protect her family from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards, she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

I didn't guess who the arsonist was. There are so many red herrings along the way but all of them are believable so you don't feel you were cheated and lead the wrong way.

I thought the book was brilliant and would urge anyone will listen to read it. I have a copy of Rosamund's Lupton's first novel, Sister, ready to read on my Kindle and have been told it's even better than Afterwards. If so, I can't wait to read it!