The Day after Death

2017 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Lesbian Fiction

After a minor car accident shatters her equilibrium, forty-three-year-old Amanda Ferguson wakes up to a memory of being terrorized by her older brother Adrian, whom she holds responsible for the death of her twin brother thirty years before. Their mother, Eva, blinded by devotion to her eldest son, has locked the truth inside her now-failing memory.

When a client from work invites Amanda to a performance of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, a haunting series of events related to the play resurfaces, including the suicide of Amanda’s college lover and mentor, Sarah Moore. As Amanda puts her fractured life back together, the present increasingly echoes her traumatic past, propelling her toward the truth about Duncan’s and Sarah’s deaths––and toward Adrian. Set against the background of the theater, The Day after Death explores how loss and family trauma affect our ability to connect, trust, and love.