The Light We Lost mixes with a touch of Daisy Jones and the Six in this novel of first love, passion, and the power of choice – and how we cannot escape the people we are meant to be.
Two loves. Two choices. One chance to follow her dreams.
Emily has come a long way since she lost her two passions fifteen years ago: music and Rob. She’s a psychologist at NYU who helps troubled college students like the one she once was. Together with her caring doctor husband, Ezra, she has a beautiful life. They’re happy. They hope to start a family. But when a tragic event in Emily’s present too closely echoes her past, and parts of her story that she’d hoped never to share come to light, her perfect life is suddenly upturned. Then Emily hears a song on the radio about the woman who got away. The melody and voice are hauntingly familiar. Could it be? As Emily’s past passions come roaring back into her life, she’ll find herself asking: Who is she meant to be? Who is she meant to love?
Fiction
Everything After
September 1, 2020
Discussion Questions
Courtesy of Putnam Books
- In Everything After, Emily must face questions about who she is, what she wants, and whom she loves. Is there a time you have asked these same questions of yourself? If so, how did that journey lead to where you are today?
- Emily and Rob had a whirlwind romance that ultimately took them down different paths. Who was your first love? What did that relationship teach you, and do you ever reminisce about it?
- In chapter 44, Emily says, “Life was a blend of choices and not choices, things that we had control over and things we didn’t.” What are the things you have control over and the things you don’t in your life?
- Ari and Priya are there for Emily through thick and thin, especially when she needs guidance. Do you have a Priya or Ari in your life? If so, share a moment when you felt your friend helped you through a tough situation.
- What was your favorite scene, and why?
- Loss and grief are two themes that Emily encounters in different points in her life. How do you feel she handled her grief, and what things might you have done differently if placed in her position?
- Do you feel you are the same person now as you were five years ago? Ten years ago? How are you the same or different?
- Do you think Emily and Ezra’s relationship was an accurate portrayal of marriage? What moments did you either relate to or not relate to?
- Discuss what you think it truly means to be a mother, and the effect experiencing Emily’s loss has on a person.
- Why do you think Emily is drawn to both Ezra and Rob? What makes each of them special in her life? Are you Team Rob or Team Ezra, and why?
- Did the ending surprise you?
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