AFTER THE FIRE

After a life on the street, Joe Belton knew one thing: life only gets worse. So can he really be getting visions from God?

When you get dragged towards the spiritual world your life changes. So much you thought you’d buried comes back at you. And that hurts. Haunted by the memories of the beautiful girl who died long ago, Joe heads home to gate-crash a school reunion and take on old enemies. There's one thing he badly needs to know: how his childhood love really died.

Can he uncover the darkest truth from all those years ago?

Will the miracle of love heal everything?

Or will there be another fire?

After The Fire combines ancient blood feuds, seductions, longings for past love, and the sunlight of childhood.

It’s a gritty, character-filled quest for redemption; a dramatic mystery that will affect anyone who has loved and lost.

Get it now.

WHAT READERS SAY

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This is a story which shows our world in all its darkness and lament, but which then leads us to our greatest hope among the fragments.’

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'After the Fire is strong on character, the potential for regret, entropy, faded relationships, and a sense of lack and loss in late middle age.’

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The book is wonderfully adept at quickly and convincingly expressing character and each character’s individual outlook and preoccupations in their life.’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After The Fire is by Philip Gladwin, who has over 60 broadcast credits as a writer or script-editor.

He has worked on many of the UK’s favourite TV dramas, and written scripts for shows as diverse as Trial and Retribution (for Lynda la Plante), The Sarah Jane Adventures (for Russell T. Davies), The Bill (ITV), Holby City (BBC), and Grange Hill and The Dumping Ground (CBBC). His episodes have a life-time audience of over 120 million viewers.

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

After TV most of your career, why write a novel?
Modern TV is amazing. The production values and the quality are staggering. In some ways it’s the best time I’ve ever known to be a TV writer. And yet, sometimes I want to tell stories that don't fit that mainstream. After The Fire is one of those.

What makes it so different?
I was trying to write one of those murder mystery books for adults, but other forces took over. My agent says it’s contemporary literature meets genre fiction, a mix of those suspense books and literary thrillers that do very well. It digs into our inner lives, and though there is a suspicious death, the pace is much calmer than the usual thriller.

Is it a purely Christian book?
It has a strong faith element, but there’s a lot you don't see in the usual Christian novel. It’s more on the end of dark Christian love stories and it has its melancholy moments – not surprising when broken people look to rekindle love.

Is it 1970’s nostalgia?
A little, maybe, but a million miles from ‘Do you remember these toys?’

Why buy it?
If you like murder mystery novels with depth, a fast-paced tone and love going off the rails, you’re set!

And thanks for reading!

‘There’s a light inside us. It heals us where we hurt, then it shines through the broken places so people can see what happened.’

‘There was nothing which couldn't be said by holding hands.’

‘How was the reunion? Meet any old flames?’