After the Funeral and Other Stories

By: Tessa Hadley

Narrated by: Abigail Thaw

A masterful collection of stories that plumb the depths of everyday life to reveal the shifting tides and hidden undercurrents of ordinary relationships—Tessa Hadley is "one of the greatest stylists alive" (Ron Charles, Washington Post).

A Best Book of the Year: TIME, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Vogue

“Hadley is pure magic and After the Funeral is a triumph.”—Lily King, New York Times best-selling author of Writers & Lovers and Euphoria

In each of these twelve stories, small events have huge consequences. Heloise’s father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Two estranged sisters cross paths at a posh hotel and pretend not to recognize each other. Janie’s bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janie’s own age—everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend’s death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend’s wife. Cecilia, a teenager, wakes one morning in Florence on vacation with her parents and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes.

As psychologically astute as they are emotionally rich, these stories illuminate the enduring conflicts between responsibility and freedom, power and desire, convention and subversion, reality and dreams. A vital addition to Tessa Hadley’s celebrated body of work, After the Funeral and Other Stories showcases what Colm Tóibín describes as "Tessa Hadley's extraordinary skill at making both surface life and deep interiors come fully alive."

©2023 Tessa Hadley (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Another showcase for Hadley’s virtuosity.... After the Funeral is a revelation for aficionados of the form, as vibrant and knowing as the best of Hadley’s celebrated career.” —Hamilton Cain, Washington Post

“One of my favorite British novelists, Tessa Hadley, has just published a collection of short stories called After the Funeral. These pieces catch family members in ordinary moments, but the real action always takes place far beneath the surface with observations that Hadley draws with exquisite skill.” —Ron Charles, CBS Sunday Morning “Book Report”

“To call it excellent would be true but uninteresting, given her nearly unerring track record. More worthwhile is to use the collection to investigate just how this superb writer’s fiction works . . . Then there’s the signature Hadley maneuver: the abrupt point-of-view shift to reveal events from a different angle, best illustrated here in 'Cecilia Awakened' . . . The story ends, like so many of Ms. Hadley’s, with a moment of intense insight and recognition.”—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

Brilliant

I found each story engaging and illuminating. Vignette’s out of life that contain so much wisdom. Almost photographic in descriptions.
The performance was perfectly aligned.

Beautifully written

Beautifully written, wonderfully read. It was like having a little glimpse into all the character’s lives.