Content levels
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Synopsis
What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can -- will she? Darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original: this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best.
Tags
Is Life After Life: A Novel appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
This literary novel explores a woman living multiple lives through repeated deaths and rebirths spanning two World Wars. Contains thematic violence related to historical events (both wars, bombings, casualties) and mature themes about mortality, fate, and trauma.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include death, grief, and war (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens will be fascinated by the time loop concept and the philosophical questions about whether one person can change history.