Before Ever After, by Samantha Sotto

Max used to be a tour guide, but not an ordinary tour guide. He led his ‘campers’ to unusual spots around Europe not to appreciate the sights or the food, but the history and the lives of those who once inhabited the land, walked on those fields, swam in those waters. And that’s when Shelley fell in love with him, while he led her through time and attempted to teach her, and the other campers, the value of a chicken and some eggs.

Years later, Shelley is Max’s widow, but one can’t say she’s actually alive. She survives in a daily struggle to breathe and keep a parody of the life she shared with him. Everything, however, is about to change.

There’s someone at the door. She opens it.

And there is Max.

For the split of a moment, she believes herself insane. She’s a prisoner of her own hallucinating mind.

But, no, that cannot be. That’s not Max. That’s Paolo Rossi. Max’s grandson.

How can that be possible? Max wasn’t more than a couple years older than herself.

Paolo brings photographs showing a greying Max, whose face never seemed to gain those unavoidable lines time gifts everyone with. That’s just a detail, though. More importantly, Max may be alive. There is another photograph and there is Max, standing by his famous eggs and cheese, the blank piece of Scrabble she had given him hanging from a chain around his neck.

But why would he lie to her? Why would he make her believe he’s gone?

It’s time for Shelley to face reality, and a journey towards truth has never taken so long. Literally.

It’s a journey which is also hard to describe, it provokes feelings words cannot express. More than a timeless romantic tale, Samantha Sotto created many lives within two, many stories within one. The settings are very vividly depicted, both with awe and appeal, not leaving room for tediousness born out of long and meaningless sentences.

The plot has a quality of rare originality – so I’ll stop talking about it right now, or I’ll spoil it. It suffices to say that it starts unpretentiously, but then it gets the reader back and forth in time. One minute you are travelling with Max, Shelley and the campers throughout Europe, but when you least expect it, you are immersed in the Fall of the Bastille or in a monastery somewhere. For every story Max shares, there is a different storyteller’s voice in the reader’s mind, and a distinguished set of characters who shine on their own and for different reasons.

Pavel and his wish to never cause pain to his mother.

Gestrin and his fear of loneliness.

Uri and his grief.

And so many others. There is a connection between these many historical figures and Shelley, a connection which, eventually, changes her life in such a way that there is no turning back.

And how does Max fit into this?

Forgive the cliché, but that is for me to know and for you to find out!

Max is a wonderfully developed character, though. He’s got a very philosophical attitude towards life and how to make the best of it, a sense of humour to give the Weasley twins a run for their galleons and something else, something uniquely his, that makes him special, lovable, sensitive.

The story is beautifully brought to a close. It is simultaneously predictable and unimaginable, happy and sad, bitter and sweet.

An authentic story and a talented debut writer can only make a highly recommended book.