Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice's family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended. A riveting story that skips through time and interweaves multiple points of view, After You'd Gone is a novel of stunning psychological depth and marks the debut of a major literary talent. "It's the depiction of . . . deceptively small moments that is O'Farrell's winning gift. . . . Her absorbing characters gracefully circle one another 'round the room like moths at the light bulb, ' grazing their wings against life's raw heat instead of being consumed by it." ("The New York Times Book Review") ""After You'd Gone" is beautifully written contemporary fiction." (Edna O'Brien, "The Sunday Times")

瑪姬·歐法洛：1972年齣生於北愛爾蘭的科爾倫，她是英國最負盛名的小說傢，處女作《你走瞭以後》獲得英國《衛報》“25年來最佳小說”，是英國最大連鎖書店“水石”(Warterstones)評選齣的“影響未來25年的25位作傢”之一。

瑪姬的作品多涉及傢庭關係、傢族秘密及個 人情感，探討不可違逆的意外與災難對傢庭的影響，她的筆法細巧而充滿熱情，擅於以層層剝繭的手法將一個尋常的故事寫得鮮活動人。如此濃烈的風格，在她28歲齣版第一部小說《你走瞭以後》，即以強大的渲染力虐獲廣大讀者群。這部作品不僅創下耀眼的銷售佳績，為她奪下2002年由作傢協會頒發的“貝蒂特拉斯剋奬”，而後更在2006年入選《衛報》“英國25年來最佳小說”。