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The Day after Death: A Novel
After a minor car accident shatters her equilibrium, forty-three-year-old Amanda Ferguson wakes up to a memory of being terrorized by her older brother Adrian, whom she holds responsible for the death of her twin brother thirty years before. Their mother, Eva, blinded by devotion to her eldest son, has locked the truth inside her now-failing memory.
When a client from work invites Amanda to a performance of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, a haunting series of events related to the play resurfaces, including the suicide of Amanda's college lover and mentor, Sarah Moore. As Amanda puts her fractured life back together, the present increasingly echoes her traumatic past, propelling her toward the truth about Duncan's and Sarah's deaths and toward Adrian. Set against the background of the theater, The Day after Death explores how loss and family trauma affect our ability to connect, trust, and love.
When a client from work invites Amanda to a performance of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, a haunting series of events related to the play resurfaces, including the suicide of Amanda's college lover and mentor, Sarah Moore. As Amanda puts her fractured life back together, the present increasingly echoes her traumatic past, propelling her toward the truth about Duncan's and Sarah's deaths and toward Adrian. Set against the background of the theater, The Day after Death explores how loss and family trauma affect our ability to connect, trust, and love.
248 pages, Paperback
Published March 15, 2016
246 people want to read
About the author
Lynn C. Miller
11 books27 followersMy new story collection, The Lost Archive, is just out in April, 2023: "The Lost Archive is laced through with humor and heartache, interwoven with strange, charmed moments of joy.”
—Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of Underground Women
The Day After Death was a 2017 Lambda Award finalist in lesbian fiction.
I believe that stories transform lives and that lives generate stories. I started writing at age 9, typing in red ink on an Underwood typewriter, when my family moved from River Forest, IL to a farm five miles northeast of Devils Lake, ND.
I live in Albuquerque and am a novelist and playwright, performer, and educator. My published novels are The Unmasking, The Day After Death, The Fool’s Journey and Death of a Department Chair. Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir (written with Lisa Lenard-Cook) came out in March, 2013 from the University of Wisconsin Press. My plays have been produced in Austin, Tulsa, Albuquerque, Provincetown, Yaddo, and elsewhere.
I co-host the podcast, "The Unruly Muse" featuring performances of poetry, music, fiction, and patter on the selections with co-host John Modaff. www.theunrulymuse.net
I have a B.A. from the University of North Dakota in English and theater, an M.A. from Northwestern University in performance studies, and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in communication and performance. I’ve taught writing and performance at Penn State University, The University of Southern California, and the University of Texas at Austin, where I was Professor of Theatre and Dance.
I have performed the lives of women in history (Gertrude Stein, Edith Wharton, Victoria Woodhull, and Katherine Anne Porter), and have appeared as a guest artist at many universities and art festivals......
—Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of Underground Women
The Day After Death was a 2017 Lambda Award finalist in lesbian fiction.
I believe that stories transform lives and that lives generate stories. I started writing at age 9, typing in red ink on an Underwood typewriter, when my family moved from River Forest, IL to a farm five miles northeast of Devils Lake, ND.
I live in Albuquerque and am a novelist and playwright, performer, and educator. My published novels are The Unmasking, The Day After Death, The Fool’s Journey and Death of a Department Chair. Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir (written with Lisa Lenard-Cook) came out in March, 2013 from the University of Wisconsin Press. My plays have been produced in Austin, Tulsa, Albuquerque, Provincetown, Yaddo, and elsewhere.
I co-host the podcast, "The Unruly Muse" featuring performances of poetry, music, fiction, and patter on the selections with co-host John Modaff. www.theunrulymuse.net
I have a B.A. from the University of North Dakota in English and theater, an M.A. from Northwestern University in performance studies, and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in communication and performance. I’ve taught writing and performance at Penn State University, The University of Southern California, and the University of Texas at Austin, where I was Professor of Theatre and Dance.
I have performed the lives of women in history (Gertrude Stein, Edith Wharton, Victoria Woodhull, and Katherine Anne Porter), and have appeared as a guest artist at many universities and art festivals......
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 28, 2016
Great choice for book clubs!
The Day after Death is both a character study and a psychological mystery. I think of The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy because, like Conroy's novel, Miller’s is structured around therapy visits. It also reminds me of Lakeshore Limited by Sue Miller, which has as its center the production of a play. Lynn Miller writes with grace and style, and her book is ambitious in its scope.
The Day after Death is both a character study and a psychological mystery. I think of The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy because, like Conroy's novel, Miller’s is structured around therapy visits. It also reminds me of Lakeshore Limited by Sue Miller, which has as its center the production of a play. Lynn Miller writes with grace and style, and her book is ambitious in its scope.
April 6, 2016
The Day after Death is a mystery, an excavation into the past of woman deeply wounded by childhood events she cannot recall and can never forget, and a complex, multi-layered story of love, loss and betrayal.
Lush descriptions, complex characters, and a plot that revolves around the complexities of Pinter’s play Betrayal, set against the backdrop of both the theater and academic worlds, this story starts with an ominous memory of Amanda’s childhood fear of her brother Adrian. Triggered by a minor auto accident, the memories propel her into a re-examination of her history with her family as she tentatively begins embarking on a new relationship in the present. The story weaves through time as more of her memories surface and old friends and lovers re-enter her world.
Amanda struggles with identity and memory as she faces old trauma so she can experience her life as an adult. The novel barrels through the dissection of several mysteries and managed to keep me guessing to the end. This is a beautifully written, moving story of a woman’s brave search for personal and family truths. Highly recommended if you enjoy gripping plots and fascinating characters.
Lush descriptions, complex characters, and a plot that revolves around the complexities of Pinter’s play Betrayal, set against the backdrop of both the theater and academic worlds, this story starts with an ominous memory of Amanda’s childhood fear of her brother Adrian. Triggered by a minor auto accident, the memories propel her into a re-examination of her history with her family as she tentatively begins embarking on a new relationship in the present. The story weaves through time as more of her memories surface and old friends and lovers re-enter her world.
Amanda struggles with identity and memory as she faces old trauma so she can experience her life as an adult. The novel barrels through the dissection of several mysteries and managed to keep me guessing to the end. This is a beautifully written, moving story of a woman’s brave search for personal and family truths. Highly recommended if you enjoy gripping plots and fascinating characters.
July 31, 2022
The sibling dynamic 🫠 !!!!!!!!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews