Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2009
350 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant...
Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.
And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.
"It's an emotionally wrenching story that will keep readers' attention through its surprising conclusion. Ages 12–up." - Publishers Weekly
"Efaw assigns herself a seemingly impossible task . . . yet somehow pulls it off in this successful button-pusher." - Booklist
"Starred Review. This is a skillfully written, emotionally raw story detailing one girl's difficult journey from denial of her circumstances to acceptance and redemption." - School Library Journal
"Young adults with smoldering parental resentment or with fixations on perfection will understand Devon's devastation at losing a cultivated future. Ages 12+." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about After was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
According to the author's note, "approximately one baby is abandoned to a trash can every day in the United States."
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