Afterworlds

Darcy Patel postpones college after selling the novel she wrote as a teenager. New York offers the publishing career she wants, but arriving with a contract does not mean she knows how to build an adult life. Other writers help her find her footing as she revises her manuscript, negotiates criticism and experiences love. Alternating chapters tell the story inside Darcy's book: Lizzie survives a terrorist attack by crossing into a place between life and death, then discovers that returning does not free her from its mysteries. The two narratives develop alongside each other, connecting a young author's changing understanding of herself with the fictional world she is still learning to shape.