After the Funeral

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Pub Date 11 Jul 2019 | Archive Date 9 May 2019

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Description

A disturbing family secret.
An unravelling life.
A diary that holds the key.


Julia Butler finds her life unravelling when a stranger at her mother’s funeral hints at a disturbing family secret. Along with her partner’s infidelity and the prospect of a childless future, she’s near breaking point.

But then the discovery of her mother’s diary reveals a war-time love affair and it's devastating impact on three generations of women could just give Julia the strength she needs to make peace with the ghosts from her past.

A disturbing family secret.
An unravelling life.
A diary that holds the key.


Julia Butler finds her life unravelling when a stranger at her mother’s funeral hints at a disturbing family secret. Along...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781910453766
PRICE US$15.95 (USD)

Average rating from 22 members


Featured Reviews

Julia Butler feels like her entire life is caving in, her mother is dead and her lover has found someone else. Feeling as though she can’t go on, she begins reading her mother’s diary and finds unexpected help and courage as she learns about her mother’s secret love affair and it’s repercussions on the other women in her family. If you’re looking for an escape from the countless murder mystery/thrillers on the market right now, you’ll find and enjoyable read in this story of love, courage and the strength of family

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I was given an advance copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very thought provoking story. Julia is a woman whose mother passes away leaving her questioning so many things. Had she been to occcupied with her own life and her 5yr relationship ending with boyfriend Greg to not be there for her mother in her final days? Did she spent more time helping others instead of tending to her own life. When a cousin she never met before attends the funeral Julia wonders if she really knows her mother.

I love how the use of Julia’s moms journals are used for her to get to know her and to unravel the family secrets she took to her grave.

Well written and is has just enough turns to keep you reading.

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I really enjoyed this book, not my usual genre but a very interesting and thought provoking read and I am so glad I decided to read it.

It is a well developed story with good characters and I felt as though I knew them all personally, it is a well written and very descriptive book and I will read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Red Door Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

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This book is well written
Has good characters and is worth reading
I just found the coincidences and connections to many to be believable.

Thank you netgalley, Gillian Poucher and Red Door Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book.

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AFTER THE FUNERAL – Gillian Poucher
RedDoor Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-91045-376-6
April 2019
General Fiction

Walsingham, England, 2002

Julia Butler, a childless and late middle-aged woman, attends her mother’s funeral. It is a difficult time. Only a few months ago her lover ended their relationship. Just as he had left his wife for Julia, he has now left her for a younger woman. At the funeral a woman she has never met before approaches her and introduces herself as Linda. Linda claims she and Emily (Linda’s mother) are second cousins. Linda is an artist and invites Julia to a local exhibit of her paintings. Julia reluctantly agrees, and even more reluctantly attends the exhibit. A photographer takes their pictures together at the exhibit, saying the two women share a family likeness. Later, after an altercation, Linda tells Julia her family has a secret, one Julia doesn’t know, but now was not the time to tell her.
Julia has suspicions about Linda’s presence, which increase when the woman shows up inebriated at her Aunt Ada’s eightieth birthday party and causes her mother’s older sister to suffer a stroke. More serious problems arise, some within her family, some with her finances, and others with her work as a counselor. She and the only other business occupant in their building, Tim, a reflexologist, will soon have their leases terminated. Then she learns Linda, who had a key to her mother’s house, entered a few days after the funeral. Later she suspects the woman took one of the diaries Julia found hidden in the house. What did Linda want? What secret does she know? And does Julia want to know this secret?

Julia’s story is about family and its convoluted relationships of love, jealousy, dislike, regret, and forgiveness through the generations; how the past affects the present and about finding faith even when in despair or doubt. It also includes some romance. Julia is filled with sadness and emotions she doesn’t show, but her turmoil makes her want to avoid any new relationships. This eventually leads her to explode in one instance of rage. The other well-portrayed characters are seen from Julia’s viewpoint, but the reader will understand them and their motivations. It is a complicated story with some very sad episodes and some seemingly serendipitous circumstances, but the outcome is surprising and evocative.

Robin Lee

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This is a dramatic book that reads like a soap opera, with a lot of dialog and a great deal of emotion. Julia Butler is still suffering from her mother’s death and her boyfriend leaving her for another woman. She is feeling totally alone and somewhat at odds about how to move on. Then a stranger named Linda introduces herself to Julia at her mother’s funeral and hints at a long-held and deeply-buried family secret. Linda is the character who keeps on giving in this novel because she continues to show up at the most inopportune times and continues with her air of secrecy and mystery. The plot in this novel is very convoluted and complicated, but it not particularly believable since there are a lot of coincidences that just seem to come together, thus taking away from the realism of the novel. The characters are mostly very weak and needy, and none were very likable, although I did sympathize with Julia and her loss. Her quest to discover the family’s secret is the theme of the book and the desire to know that secret kept me reading. I did guess part of Linda’s role in the family secret long before it was revealed, but that did not stop me from wanting to read the rest of the story to find out the fate of the much beleaguered and grieving Julia. Readers of suspense will enjoy this book as long as they don’t expect a great deal of action or reality.

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I found myself completely captivated by After The Funeral from the very beginning.
We meet 49 year old Julia at a very sad time in her life, the funeral of her mother, Emily. When she meets a stranger attending the funeral claiming to know her and hinting at a family secret, Julia is understandably disturbed, but intrigued. Who is this Linda who claims to have spent time with her mother, but who her mother has never mentioned?
I have to say that for the most part of this book I couldn't make my mind up if I liked Julia or not. At times she comes across as quite standoffish and a bit self-important, but she is struggling with her grief and the recent break of a relationship, all of which affects her ability to do her job as a counsellor effectively. This, of course, has a knock on effect on her finances, another cause of stress which leads to her returning to her work sooner than she really should have. Her new client, Grace proves that she isn't really well enough to counsel effectively, but she really needs the money and Grace has her more than little bit intrigued.
When Linda turns up at Julia's Aunt Ada's 80th Birthday celebration, seemingly drunk and just there to cause trouble, the suspense is revved up a notch and I was desperate to discover Linda's story and her connection to the family. It is obvious that Aunt Ada knows something about her, but she takes her secret with her to her grave.
When Julia's supervisor insists she takes some time off and go away for a few days, I love that Julia goes to Walsingham. I know Walsingham well. I have been there on pilgrimage many times in the past few years, but unfortunately didn't go last year with our church group. My friend, Gayle, and I are looking at going sometime in November this year, all being well. Anyway, it's such a beautiful place in such a lovely part of the country and I loved that I could picture where Julia was whilst she was there.
When Julia meets Linda once again and she hands her a diary of her mothers which was missing from her house, she knows she is finally going to discover the truth. That truth is quite heart-breaking and this is when I really warmed Julia. Reading Emily's diary entry reveals the secret everyone had been keeping for all those years and my heart wept for Emily. I don't want to say any more for fear of spoiling it for anyone, but needless to say it has been a compelling read.
It is such an emotional story full of secrets, love and devastating loss. It has, however, hope for a brighter future with long lost family and new relationships.
It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. I highly recommend and will be looking forward to future books by Gillian Poucher.
Many thanks to Anna and Julia at RedDoor publishing for my review copy.

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