After the Rain, Aisling Smith
After the Rain, Aisling Smith
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
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After the Rain

Author: Aisling Smith

Narrator: Sarah Roberts

Unabridged: 9 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/26/2023


Synopsis

'A stirring, magical, and emotional novel about family, belonging, marriage, race, and culture ... The best novels are never long enough, and you won't want After the Rain to end' The Australian
'A staggering soulful achievement' The Australian Women's Weekly

Malti Fortune is uneasy. She has turned away from her birthplace of Fiji to make a new life in Melbourne. But all that she thought was certain is now in danger of being swept away. Her husband, Benjamin, a linguist, is a conundrum. He has changed. Or has she? The stories and superstitions of her childhood are telling her something she knows but doesn't want to hear - about being a trespasser, about not belonging.

In the years to come, Malti and Benjamin's daughters are also to learn some hard truths. For Ellery, the hands-on father of her memories vanishes for months on end and the remembered fragments of good times aren't enough to sustain her anymore. Verona, on the verge of adulthood, can't imagine a world without her beloved Dad. He is her rock and hero. But Malti and Ellery both know that you can't depend on Benjamin.

What makes a family? What does home look like? All three women are seeking answers. Each is haunted by her own ghosts. And by Benjamin. To find what they are looking for, they need to be honest with themselves and make peace with their own unreliable memories.

After the Rain is a moving, exquisitely observed novel about marriage and family, dislocation, culture and belonging, from an exciting new voice in Australian literature.

'A beautifully realised exploration of family, identity and dislocation. Smith beautifully captures complicated feelings around building a home in a new country, choosing your own path in life and realising your parents are just people, too' Books and Publishing
'A thunderous debut full of life, love and legends. A truly sensational read!' WINNIE DUNN
'Aisling Smith's debut novel ... amply demonstrates her ability to write well and create complex and likeable characters. This is a novel about marriage, family dynamics and the attempt to live between two cultures and lands. I highly recommend it' Australian Book Review
'An evocative and powerful story about marriage, culture, family and the uncertainties of love in all its forms' Kill Your Darlings
'[like] Anne Tyler ... Smith is a powerful novelist with an extraordinary eye for the nuances of human bonds. Smith has written these characters with intelligence and compassion, imbuing them with a convincing complexity and fallibility that engenders remarkable authenticity' Kill Your Darlings
'Complex and textured ... An intricate, subtly shaded exploration of the role disillusionment plays in shaping families - whether in love, between cultures, or through realising your parents are flawed human beings' WA Today

About Aisling Smith

Aisling Smith is a Melbourne-based writer. She was the winner of the 2020 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Her writing has appeared in Meanjin online, SWAMP, Verge and Verandah. She has twice been a Verandah Award winner (receiving an Editors' Choice Award in 2011 and a Deakin Literary Award in 2015) and placed third for the 2020 St Kilda Historical Society Short Story Competition. In 2019, Aisling completed a PhD in Literary Studies at Monash University, researching the fiction of David Foster Wallace. In her spare time, she is an aerialist and plays the cello.


Reviews

Goodreads review by nina.reads.books on May 15, 2023

After the Rain is the debut novel of Australian author Aisling Smith. I found this to be a solid family focussed contemporary read which I enjoyed but ultimately wanted a little bit more from. The book is a bitter-sweet look at a family over time with the focus shifting points of view in different de......more

Goodreads review by Craig and Phil on November 12, 2024

Big thanks to Hachette for sending us a copy to read and review. The trials and tribulations, the raw emotions and the pure essence of family dynamics is captured like ingredients of a sauce and bottled for the reader to reflect. The spectrum and depth reflected an authenticity that a reader can relat......more

Goodreads review by Brooke on April 26, 2024

After the Rain is the debut novel from Melbourne based author Aisling Smith. This book has been sitting on my TBR since its release and after reading it I can’t believe that I waited so long! Cleverly told through the eyes of three women: Malti and her two daughters Ellery and Verona, After the Rain......more

Goodreads review by Marles on November 19, 2023

Malti came from Fiji to study law in Melbourne in 1975. She found life and love in the 1980s with Benjamin, the linguist. Yet she still felt disconnected from the Australian way of life, longing for her family and her home in Fiji. Her desire to be home with her family increased as the coups intensi......more

Goodreads review by Raveena on June 20, 2023

Really really enjoyed reading this novel - it really satisfied that "page turner" itch of mine ! Which is surprising considering it's not a thriller by any means but it goes to show that all you need is good writing to keep you hooked. I feel like the book held a purpose throughout and it wasn't sto......more