Praise for AFTER ... Barbara's Story

June 12, 2025

I didn’t expect this book to sit with me the way it did. After … Barbara’s Story doesn’t shout it whispers, and somehow that made it land even harder. From the moment Barbara got that call at the gym, I felt something tighten in my chest. Her grief isn’t tidy, and I recognised parts of myself in that the numbness, the sharp flashes of emotion, the exhaustion of trying to hold it all together. What really got me were the quiet, ordinary moments making toast, sitting in silence, trying to smile when you don’t feel like it. Those little details made everything feel real. And Kevin… his calm, steady way of being there without trying to fix her felt so genuine. Their relationship broke me a bit, honestly. I had a few small stumbles sometimes as Barbara’s emotional shifts felt a little fast, and I wasn’t fully sure what to make of Bobby but overall, this felt like reading someone’s inner world with all the walls down. I’ll carry parts of this story with me for a long time. ~ IM Wati