Grace After Henry

January 1, 2019
A young woman in Dublin handles a confusing and surprising gain after a deep and personal loss.After her partner, Henry, dies in a bike accident, Grace spends nearly three months emotionally and physically shut down. Then, with lots of prodding from her parents and best friend, she attempts the barest requirements of living again: going to her job as chef at a local cafe, visiting Henry's grave, and furnishing the house the two were buying when he died. She thinks she sees Henry everywhere and has to convince herself it's just her grieving brain playing tricks on her, until he shows up, on her doorstep, in the flesh. But this isn't Henry, either. It's Andy, the twin brother from Down Under no one knew existed. Once the initial shock has dropped to a simmer, Grace allows herself to find comfort in Andy's similarities to Henry while Andy finds comfort seeing the type of life he might have had if his restless, adoptive single mom hadn't moved him to Australia. They both dabble in magical thinking, teasing at this soap-opera setup to see if it might go in the most soap-opera direction. But Grace (who narrates the bulk of the book) has a straightforward, often droll tone, and Shortall in general focuses on small, daily details over sweeping, dramatic ones. This is a blessing and a curse; it tempers the high drama of the plot into something sweet and (almost) believable. But in the dance between the two she loses sight of the story of grief, which deserves more attention.Strongest in its depiction of modern Dublin characters and their entertaining interactions, muddled when it comes to the meat of the story.

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February 1, 2019

Irish author Shortall's American debut introduces Grace McDonnell, a smart, funny, young chef on the verge of buying a house with the love of her life, Henry Walsh. Everything changes when Henry is killed in a freak accident while hurrying to meet Grace. This is not a spoiler as the story focuses entirely on Grace after Henry. She struggles with her deep grief as she slowly reenters life by going back to work, following through on the purchase of the house, making friends with the "three wise men" at the graveyard, and watching television with her curmudgeonly neighbor. Then the unthinkable happens as Henry's heretofore unknown twin brother, Andy, knocks at the door. Andy is looking for information about the brother he never knew, and Grace is thrown as she comes to terms with the existence of someone who looks exactly like Henry yet is so clearly not the man she loved. Complications ensue as, despite Grace's best efforts, those who knew Henry come to meet Andy. VERDICT Both funny and touching, this charming story with wonderful characters examines the nature of grief, love, friendship, and family. For fans of Jojo Moyes and Marisa de los Santos. [See Editors' Spring Picks, p. 22.]--Terry Lucas, Shelter Island P.L., NY

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Starred review from January 1, 2019
Grace and Henry are blissfully happy and about to buy their first home together. On his way to meet Grace, Henry is killed in a tragic accident. Grace, shocked and bereft, spends her time either sleeping or hanging out in the cemetery with a group of elderly widowers. She eventually moves into the home she and Henry bought and hires a plumber to fix the broken boiler. Grace gets the second-greatest shock of her life when the plumber, Andy, looks exactly like Henry. It turns out Henry was adopted, and Andy is his twin; it's just a coincidence that, while searching for his birth family, he ended up at Grace's. While Andy gets to know more about Henry through Grace, she uses Andy to assuage her grief. This book is a poignant and touching account of one woman moving on after great tragedy. Shortall's American debut does not go for easy solutions but shows how grief manifests differently for those who experience it. Secondary characters in the novel provide necessary comic relief and hope to Grace that life will go on.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)