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After: A Cautionary Tale
As 2032 comes to a close, Max Poirier and Annie Dekker are enjoying a vacation in Lofoten, Norway. Moments before Max proposes to Annie, a nuclear explosion rocks Bodø, almost a hundred kilometres away across the sea. They soon learn that Bodø is not an isolated incident; as they try to protect themselves from nuclear fallout, they learn that dozens of cities around the world have been hit with nuclear weapons and that nuclear war is imminent, if not already completely underway.
Meanwhile, at a small farm in the Netherlands, the retired couple Magda and Jan Bouwman are just as devastated by a nearby nuclear attack. Their farm provides them with a modicum of food and safety, but with a dearth of medication necessary for Magda’s health and a lack of information regarding their adult children’s survival, they decide to brave the unknown.
Max and Annie grow closer in despair, weathering hopelessness and the seemingly endless death around them as they trek south on Lofoten to find help that may never come. Magda and Jan find themselves drifting apart as their journey reminds them of their family, past regrets, and a secret they both know Jan has been keeping from Magda—a secret that might finally be their undoing.
A Cautionary Tale is a haunting novel about humans at their flawed, yet resilient and hopeful.
Meanwhile, at a small farm in the Netherlands, the retired couple Magda and Jan Bouwman are just as devastated by a nearby nuclear attack. Their farm provides them with a modicum of food and safety, but with a dearth of medication necessary for Magda’s health and a lack of information regarding their adult children’s survival, they decide to brave the unknown.
Max and Annie grow closer in despair, weathering hopelessness and the seemingly endless death around them as they trek south on Lofoten to find help that may never come. Magda and Jan find themselves drifting apart as their journey reminds them of their family, past regrets, and a secret they both know Jan has been keeping from Magda—a secret that might finally be their undoing.
A Cautionary Tale is a haunting novel about humans at their flawed, yet resilient and hopeful.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 6, 2024
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Paul Meloche
1 book3 followersPaul Meloche is a writer with a keen curiosity across a breadth of subjects and an avid enthusiasm for the outdoors. Passionate about exploring the rugged Ontario wilderness, he has embarked on many backcountry canoe trips with his son and enjoys camping and kayaking with his wife and daughter. He has also travelled outside Canada to other exotic, beautiful places. A few years ago, he hiked the rugged trails of Lofoten, Norway, and in that beautiful and isolated land he wondered: What if someone was trapped here, all alone?
More recently, and prompted by a friend's challenge, he discovered his passion for writing after completing a poem about beauty and a pair of short stories.
He continued to create many poems, exploring themes of love, loss, rebirth, and death. Although he originally conceived of After: A Cautionary Tale as a short story, as he wrote, the story took on a life of its own and became the novel it is now.
Paul lives in Ottawa with his wife, their teenage daughter, and their goofy Goldendoodle, Penny.
More recently, and prompted by a friend's challenge, he discovered his passion for writing after completing a poem about beauty and a pair of short stories.
He continued to create many poems, exploring themes of love, loss, rebirth, and death. Although he originally conceived of After: A Cautionary Tale as a short story, as he wrote, the story took on a life of its own and became the novel it is now.
Paul lives in Ottawa with his wife, their teenage daughter, and their goofy Goldendoodle, Penny.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 25, 2025
A 4.5.
This book is set in 2032--the story of two couples from the day of the nuclear event and for the next three weeks.
The first couple - young and madly love - Max, Canadian and his Dutch girlfriend Annie, hiking in the Loften Islands off of Norway and the Dutch couple in their early 60s - Jan and Magda. The book is stark - a world right after a nuclear episode with people concerned about food, shelter, water and finding out what is going on, as well as dealing with radiation sickness.
It was well written and well researched, even though I found a few small "flaws" about Dutch people and their linguistic abilities.
This book is set in 2032--the story of two couples from the day of the nuclear event and for the next three weeks.
The first couple - young and madly love - Max, Canadian and his Dutch girlfriend Annie, hiking in the Loften Islands off of Norway and the Dutch couple in their early 60s - Jan and Magda. The book is stark - a world right after a nuclear episode with people concerned about food, shelter, water and finding out what is going on, as well as dealing with radiation sickness.
It was well written and well researched, even though I found a few small "flaws" about Dutch people and their linguistic abilities.
November 28, 2024
This was a great read! Lots of depth of characters, great location and adventure setting, and the author did a great job describing the scenery where this is taking place. Good mix of hope, love, despair and hardship. You should give it a try!
June 13, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. The author’s ability to immerse me in the characters’ trials and tribulations was incredible—I felt like I was right there with them, living every high and low. My heart broke, healed, and broke again throughout the journey. It was emotional, raw, and beautifully written. I would absolutely read more from this author.
December 17, 2024
Paul Meloche’s haunting novel “After: A Cautionary Tale” follows two couples in the year 2032 after a nuclear event. We find young Max and Annie vacationing in Lofoten, Norway, enjoying the beautiful but harsh landscape. An older couple, Jan and Magda are on their farm just outside of Zutphen, Netherlands, and should have been enjoying their retirement. Instead, Jan holds a secret that’s slowly destroying their marriage; and Max and Annie face the end of what could have been a beautiful life. As the couples fight for survival in the ensuing chaos of the world after the bombs, readers are taken along on a cold, dreary journey where courage and desperation, the best and worst of humanity, change these four lives forever.
Meloche makes a bold choice with the use of an omniscient point of view as he alternates chunks of time with either couple. We travel forward in time with Max and Annie first; and then reverse to the beginning of the nuclear event as we watch actions unfold once more from the perspective of Jan and Magda. It creates a unique and nerve-wracking perception of time. The tension rises steadily with Max and Annie, and then the reset in time gives the reader a moment to catch their breath before the tension rises once more.
There is an abundance of characters, both main and peripheral. The reader’s access to all of their thoughts and emotions creates a panorama of the situation and the characters within it, rather than lasering in on a single character’s journey.
Where the writing really shone was in how well Meloche captured the stuck, frozen, and trapped atmosphere. With each new scene, the world felt smaller and smaller in the remote area where Max and Annie found themselves. The cover of the novel also lends well to setting the cold backdrop.
Magda and Jan are less trapped physically, as their homestead launching pad sets them up for greater success. The claustrophobic feel of their portions of the story came from an undercurrent of disinterest and secrets between the two of them, which added another layer that the novel sees play out with monumental consequences. The younger couple, being more loving and more supportive towards each other also made for an interesting counter to the older, more established couple who lacked any real warmth.
“After” by Paul Meloche will hold appeal to readers who enjoy a grittier, more heartrending read. The balance between hope and despair rocks wildly back and forth before culminating in an ending that does not shy away from the grimness of our world.
Meloche makes a bold choice with the use of an omniscient point of view as he alternates chunks of time with either couple. We travel forward in time with Max and Annie first; and then reverse to the beginning of the nuclear event as we watch actions unfold once more from the perspective of Jan and Magda. It creates a unique and nerve-wracking perception of time. The tension rises steadily with Max and Annie, and then the reset in time gives the reader a moment to catch their breath before the tension rises once more.
There is an abundance of characters, both main and peripheral. The reader’s access to all of their thoughts and emotions creates a panorama of the situation and the characters within it, rather than lasering in on a single character’s journey.
Where the writing really shone was in how well Meloche captured the stuck, frozen, and trapped atmosphere. With each new scene, the world felt smaller and smaller in the remote area where Max and Annie found themselves. The cover of the novel also lends well to setting the cold backdrop.
Magda and Jan are less trapped physically, as their homestead launching pad sets them up for greater success. The claustrophobic feel of their portions of the story came from an undercurrent of disinterest and secrets between the two of them, which added another layer that the novel sees play out with monumental consequences. The younger couple, being more loving and more supportive towards each other also made for an interesting counter to the older, more established couple who lacked any real warmth.
“After” by Paul Meloche will hold appeal to readers who enjoy a grittier, more heartrending read. The balance between hope and despair rocks wildly back and forth before culminating in an ending that does not shy away from the grimness of our world.
December 12, 2024
Omg! Heart wrenching yet hopeful. Believable and terrifying. Descriptive to the point I could see the land and the weather and the people.
And then you made me cry.
And then you made me cry.
November 14, 2025
After: A Cautionary Tale is one of the most gripping and emotionally resonant nuclear-war stories I’ve read in years. It isn’t just about survival, it’s about the fragile, complicated, hopeful parts of being human when the world suddenly falls apart. From the very first chapter, this novel held me with a quiet intensity that never let go.
Max and Annie’s storyline is breathtaking in its rawness. One moment they are enjoying a peaceful vacation in Lofoten on the brink of one of the happiest moments of their lives and the next, everything shatters with the nuclear blast in Bodø. Their journey south through isolation, fallout, and despair is written with such striking realism that I could practically feel the cold wind, the ash, the fear, and the heartbreak. Watching their relationship deepen, not out of convenience but out of genuine love and shared trauma, was incredibly moving.
Magda and Jan’s story, running parallel in the Netherlands, adds an equally powerful emotional weight. Their quiet farm, their dwindling supplies, their fears for their children, and the looming shadow of Magda’s health issues all make their journey feel painfully real. The tension between them—rooted in regrets, aging, and a devastating secret Jan has been hiding kept me gripping the pages. Their arc explores a side of survival fiction that’s often overlooked: what it means to navigate catastrophe when you’re older, tired, and burdened by the past.
What elevates this novel is the way the author balances destruction with humanity. The atmosphere is bleak, yes, but it’s also beautiful in the way it highlights resilience, connection, and the instinct to hope even when hope feels impossible. The writing is haunting, quiet, and deeply emotional not just about the end of the world, but about how people face their own inner endings and beginnings.
By the final chapters, I felt completely invested in both couples. Their fears, their love, their doubts, and their endurance stayed with me long after I closed the book.
If you appreciate post-apocalyptic fiction that prioritizes emotional depth over shock value and characters that feel painfully, wonderfully human this book is absolutely worth reading. A stunning and unforgettable cautionary tale that lingers.
Max and Annie’s storyline is breathtaking in its rawness. One moment they are enjoying a peaceful vacation in Lofoten on the brink of one of the happiest moments of their lives and the next, everything shatters with the nuclear blast in Bodø. Their journey south through isolation, fallout, and despair is written with such striking realism that I could practically feel the cold wind, the ash, the fear, and the heartbreak. Watching their relationship deepen, not out of convenience but out of genuine love and shared trauma, was incredibly moving.
Magda and Jan’s story, running parallel in the Netherlands, adds an equally powerful emotional weight. Their quiet farm, their dwindling supplies, their fears for their children, and the looming shadow of Magda’s health issues all make their journey feel painfully real. The tension between them—rooted in regrets, aging, and a devastating secret Jan has been hiding kept me gripping the pages. Their arc explores a side of survival fiction that’s often overlooked: what it means to navigate catastrophe when you’re older, tired, and burdened by the past.
What elevates this novel is the way the author balances destruction with humanity. The atmosphere is bleak, yes, but it’s also beautiful in the way it highlights resilience, connection, and the instinct to hope even when hope feels impossible. The writing is haunting, quiet, and deeply emotional not just about the end of the world, but about how people face their own inner endings and beginnings.
By the final chapters, I felt completely invested in both couples. Their fears, their love, their doubts, and their endurance stayed with me long after I closed the book.
If you appreciate post-apocalyptic fiction that prioritizes emotional depth over shock value and characters that feel painfully, wonderfully human this book is absolutely worth reading. A stunning and unforgettable cautionary tale that lingers.
May 23, 2025
A Cautionary Tale is a masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction, blending raw human emotion with the terrifying reality of nuclear war. Max and Annie’s desperate journey through the ruins of Lofoten is heartbreaking yet strangely hopeful, while Magda and Jan’s fractured marriage adds a deeply personal layer to the chaos. The prose is hauntingly beautiful, making every moment of despair and fleeting connection feel visceral. This isn’t just a survival story, it’s about what we cling to when the world ends. One of the most gripping books I’ve read in years.
December 30, 2024
Captivating page turner. I was so invested in the characters I could not stop reading. Looking forward to the next book from this up and coming author.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews