Max and Pip are best friends, lovers, soul mates. They are unshakable, the strongest couple you know. But then their only son, Dylan, gets sick and they are faced with making a decision—that no parent should ever have to make—based on recommendations from the doctors that care for their son. For the first time in their relationship, they are not in agreement and each wants a different future for their son. Max doesn’t want to give up on Dylan, he wants to seek alternative treatments to prolong Dylan's life, whereas Pip doesn't want to give up on Dylan, but she doesn't want him to be in pain for the rest of his days.
What if they could have both?
This book was a gift even though it totally shattered me. It is an emotionally wrought page-turner about an impossible situation. Because none of us know the future, we make our decisions based upon the facts we have at the time. MacIntosh draws on her own personal tragedy and reflects on the life-changing decision that she and her husband were forced to make for their own critically ill child.
There is an incredible plot twist done through the narration (that unfortunately I see is given away in the publisher provided synopsis). I literally had to reread the ending of the proceeding chapter because I was so caught off guard. What an interesting take on a narrative that has been done time and time again and I loved it!
Mackintosh's After the End explores marriage, parenthood, and love. It brings us a family that forges new relationships in the face of tragedy and speaks to the resilience of the human spirit. This is a story of hope, of what the future may bring, and what the heart tells us.
CLARE MACKINTOSH is the New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of I Let You Go, I See You, and Let Me Lie, translated into more than thirty-five languages and with more than two million copies sold worldwide.
She lives in North Wales with her husband and their three children.
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