You can’t defeat death, but maybe you can tame it.

Eddie and Ivri meet at an estate in LA. They share genetic material, but have never met before. Eddie is convinced that Ivri – who’s visiting from Israel – is going to kill him. After all, he’s responsible for the death of their mother, Eden.

In the end, all roads lead to Eden, who was a gifted artist at fifteen, transparent as water at sixteen, and whose most remarkable talent was her ability to love. And what’s left of all that love? Three sons, two paintings, a too-famous film actor, and endless birdsong.

AFTERLIFE is a novel with mythical qualities about people who lost too much too quickly and are finally beginning to heal. The book, structured according to the five stages of grief experienced by the protagonists, highlights what separates people and what makes them family. Only when the pieces come together does it become clear that truth is the best story one can tell around a campfire.

This is the third adult work by Natalie Gvirtz, author of the bestseller THE VOLUNTEER, which was nominated for the Sapir Prize. AFTERLIFE is an enchanting novel that, despite it all and perhaps because of it all, is infused with a love of life and an almost contagious optimism.