AFTER THE ECLIPSE NAMED:
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A Notable Nonfiction Debut of the Year by Poets & Writers
A Must-Read Title of the Fall by Entertainment Weekly, W Magazine, and the Portland Press Herald
A Great Book of September and October Book Club pick by NYLON
A Great Nonfiction Title of September by Bustle
A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick
A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
A Notable Fall Title by Book Reporter
A Book of the Month Club October Selection, by Guest Judge Gabourey Sidibe
A Library Journal Top Audiobook Title
A BookPage Book of the Day and Best Book of 2017
A Brooklyn Rail Top 25 Nonfiction Book of 2017
A NYLON Best Nonfiction Book of 2017
A Maine Humanities Council/Maine State Library ReadME program selection for 2019
REVIEWS AND ACCLAIM FOR AFTER THE ECLIPSE:
"After the Eclipse pulls the reader swiftly along on parallel tracks of mystery and elegy...Perry’s scrupulous research and painstaking rendering of her experiences make her a trustworthy guide through such emotionally charged terrain. She’s also a wonderful writer with an assured sense of when to zoom in to her body’s somatic response for a piercing immediacy and when to pull back to convey the measured perspective gained through the distance of time. Many moments of beauty and tenderness rise up through the darkness. In the end, Perry succeeds in restoring her mother’s humanity, and her own."
—Bliss Broyard, The New York Times Book Review
"[Perry] wonderfully evokes her mother even as she struggles to unravel the mystery of her death...Perry’s memoir is a testament to one child’s ability to survive the unspeakable, one woman’s ability to recapture what was lost, and a fascinating small-town mystery with breathtaking revelations at the end."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review (featured Book of the Week)
"Stunning...a graceful and powerful memorial."
—Entertainment Weekly
"Raw and perfect...I've never read a better depiction of how a sudden, violent event rips through a human being's apprehension of reality...[It's] an unfussy, richly textured remembrance of a town, a family, a particular place on the planet that its author knows all the way down to her bones—the strengths of a classic memoir... After the Eclipse [has] an eerie, heartbreaking power that it shares with the very best of true crime."
—Laura Miller, Slate
"In compelling detail, After the Eclipse is the true story of a murder and its aftermath, as told by the only witness...A strong, gritty memoir...A tantalizing whodunit...Ultimately, what the book illustrates best is the gulf of loss and the continuing significance of one life taken before its time. Grief, after all, is not a tidy emotion. It echoes through and beneath every subsequent experience ('the colors and sounds and textures of the world still seem to conspire to bring her back to me'). This book is just one of the many repercussions of a life cut short."
—Laura Jean Moore, The Brooklyn Rail
"Perry weaves together her painful memories of that night with archival research and journalistic interviews to not only piece together the details of her mother’s death, but illuminate the woman she was before it. With clear, powerful prose, Perry paints a portrait of unconventional motherhood while questioning society’s handling of violence against women. Reminiscent of Maggie Nelson’s The Red Parts, After the Eclipse tells the very human story at the center of a needless crime."
—W Magazine
"With rich prose, Sarah Perry tackles grief, and how we persevere in the face of tragedy."
—The Portland Press Herald
"In an accomplished debut memoir, a daughter struggles to understand the life of her mother, who was murdered when the author was 12...deft pacing and vivid portraits result in an absorbing mystery and a forthright memoir of abiding grief."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A wrenching, searing, beautifully written and finely detailed memoir."
—Book Reporter
"The deeply personal memoir examines our obsession with female violence while telling the account of her mother’s murder in the small town of Bridgton, Maine. It’ll give you chills."
—Hello Giggles
"A moving journey."
—Bust
FEATURE STORIES ABOUT AFTER THE ECLIPSE
10/29/17—Kelly Bouchard, The Portland Press Herald
10/20/17—Matt Junker, Lakes Region Weekly
10/05/17—Wayne Rivet, The Bridgton News
PODCASTS
10/31/17—Kelly Bouchard, The Portland Press Herald