Fabulous reads – Exploring life after death
Book review - The Astonishing Colour After by Emily XR Pan.
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The Astonishing Colour After, Emily XR Pan, Pan Macmillan
LEIGH is an artist, a soulful and deep young adult who has a unique way of describing her current reality or circumstances – she uses a mix of colours to emulate her emotions.
After a long fight with chronic depression, Leigh’s mother commits suicide and Leigh’s world is turned upside down. With emotions high, she and her father struggle to come to terms with the loss. Leigh is convinced her mother has been reincarnated into a majestic red bird.
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With gifts that she thinks are from her bird-mother, she travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There she learns about long hidden secrets, and ancient magic and learning the culture she is half a part of.
The Astonishing Colour of After is a poignant and beautifully written narrative about love, loss and family. Emily Pan has created a vivid and colourful world to delve into. She writes of the struggles of depression and suicide with sensitivity and with no under exaggeration or happily-ever-after finish.
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