The title refers to the events on 9/11. “Before” the cataclysmic day, Michael Faulk, an Episcopalian priest (in the process of resigning due to a shift in his vocational commitment) had met Natasha, a Washington bureaucratic aide. Despite the 16-year age gap they fall in love and intend to marry and begin a new life together. “During” the terrible 9/11 they are apart. Natasha is in Jamaica on holiday where she was raped by a fellow holidaymaker. Michael is in uptown New York as the World Trade Centre collapses. The “After” is how they cope with the fallout of the assault, coupled with the emotional miasma post-9/11. She cannot tell him what she has experienced. He is frustrated and confused. Michael and Natasha are products of cossetted privilege. They are psychologically dull and their projected personalities are humourless and dry. They do, however, sink a hell of a lot of booze in the course of this dreary narrative. But it is not enough to make them come alive.
