Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

‘Don’t you wonder sometimes,’ Ursula said. ‘If just one small thing had been changed, in the past, I mean….surely things would be different.’

I admit I am a big fan of Kate Atkinson’s writing, having read most of her previous novels, with a particular fondness for the Jackson Brodie stories, my favourite probably being ‘When Will There Be Good News?’. I was therefore so excited to hear about a new novel coming from her and filled with great anticipation upon starting to read.

Life After Life didn’t disappoint me; I think this is a very special book in many ways. It is imbued with the sparkling prose and the dark humour that is so often evident in Kate Atkinson’s works. But this book features something rather clever and wonderful in terms of the structure and storyline.

The main character, Ursula Todd is born in 1910, during a heavy snowstorm, but sadly dies immediately, there’s no time for the doctor to reach her. Then we read that Ursula Todd is born in 1910 during a heavy snowstorm, and lives. She has another chance, another start at life, and this pattern, this unique quality, stays with her as she lives, and lives again, and changes the direction of her life, having chance after chance to get it just right. What a premise!

We accompany Ursula as she lives through many of the major events of the twentieth century, with her personal highs and lows recounted, then changed, as she has another chance at her life, and then another. She takes a different route, and a different course is set. Kate Atkinson writes of the personal experiences of one woman in a way that makes for compelling reading. I loved Ursula’s family and thought they were also all vividly brought to life, in particular her mother Sylvie. However clever the structure, I never felt distanced from Ursula as a character, as a woman. She endures some of the hardest times, the saddest events, and the reader grows close to her and hopes for better next time.

I wasn’t sure quite what to expect in terms of how this novel would work, but I gave myself time to get into the novel, through the early, often very short episodes as Ursula begins to find her way. I was soon drawn into Ursula’s life, her family, the events, and I was keen to return to them every time I picked the book up, little knowing what would await me.

When Ursula lives again, sometimes very little has changed, sometimes a lot is different. There are some thrilling moments, dramatic and tragic; then the reader realises that there is another chance at the story and can breathe again – it’s quite an experience reading this book. Usually after another go, things are better, but Ursula’s life demonstrates that there are always hard choices, difficult relationships; there is always some sadness, even when she has had more than one chance to live through a particular time. It’s a powerful and emotional experience to read this story.

This is by turns a surprising, unnerving, moving and rewarding read and it sets itself apart with a clever structure to the narrative and a distinctive main character who we live through different experiences with, over and over again, as we read. It’s a fascinating and fantastic concept that really made me think as I read. What does this mean for fate? What if we could all change things, or go back and have a second chance? 

Published by Doubleday on 14th March 2013

Thanks very much to the publisher for kindly sending a copy of this novel to read and review.