Aftershock

A catastrophic disaster in China triggers a mother’s heartbreaking choice and a daughter’s reconciliation with the past in a powerful novel by the author of A Single Swallow and Where Waters Meet . In the summer of 1976, an earthquake swallows up the city of Tangshan, China. Among the hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for survival is a mother who makes an agonizing decision that irrevocably changes her life and the lives of her children. In that devastating split second, her seven-year-old daughter, Xiaodeng, is separated from her brother and the mother she loves and trusts. All Xiaodeng remembers of the fateful morning is betrayal. Thirty years later, Xiaodeng is an acclaimed writer living in Canada with a caring husband and daughter. However, her newfound fame and success do little to cover the deep wounds that disrupt her life, time and again, and edge her toward a breaking point. Xiaodeng realizes the only path toward healing is to return to Tangshan, find her mother, and get closure. Spanning three decades of the emotional and cultural aftershocks of disaster, Zhang Ling’s intimate epic explores the damage of guilt, the healing pull of family, and the hope of one woman who, after so many years, still longs to be saved.

A catastrophic disaster in China triggers a mother’s heartbreaking choice and a daughter’s reconciliation with the past in a powerful novel by the author of A Single Swallow and Where Waters Meet . In the summer of 1976, an earthquake swallows up the city of Tangshan, China. Among the hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for survival is a mother who makes an agonizing decision that irrevocably changes her life and the lives of her children. In that devastating split second, her seven-year-old daughter, Xiaodeng, is separated from her brother and the mother she loves and trusts. All Xiaodeng remembers of the fateful morning is betrayal. Thirty years later, Xiaodeng is an acclaimed writer living in Canada with a caring husband and daughter. However, her newfound fame and success do little to cover the deep wounds that disrupt her life, time and again, and edge her toward a breaking point. Xiaodeng realizes the only path toward healing is to return to Tangshan, find her mother, and get closure. Spanning three decades of the emotional and cultural aftershocks of disaster, Zhang Ling’s intimate epic explores the damage of guilt, the healing pull of family, and the hope of one woman who, after so many years, still longs to be saved.

THE END IS NEAR. Adam Hamdy's first PENDULUM novel was called 'one of the best thrillers of the year' by James Patterson and chosen as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. AFTERSHOCK is the page-turning climax to an explosive series that has gripped fans of Lee Child and Simon Kernick. THEY BELIEVED IT WAS OVER Having survived the lethal Pendulum conspiracy, photographer John Wallace atones for his past mistakes. DI Patrick Bailey clings to the hope that he can, at last, return to a normal life in London. BUT IT'S ONLY JUST BEGINNING FBI investigator Christine Ash - alone and paranoid - hunts down the remaining members of the ruthless Foundation organisation. DARK FORCES ARE RISING AGAIN But when masked assassins strike at the heart of the UK government, a shocking new threat emerges that forces all three to reunite. DEADLIER THAN EVER BEFORE With time running out, they must defeat a lethal new adversary: a manipulative mastermind with sinister powers unlike anything they've seen before. 'Watch out, Jack Reacher and Alex Cross, the new generation is here!' - Crime Time

THE END IS NEAR. Adam Hamdy's first PENDULUM novel was called 'one of the best thrillers of the year' by James Patterson and chosen as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. AFTERSHOCK is the page-turning climax to an explosive series that has gripped fans of Lee Child and Simon Kernick. THEY BELIEVED IT WAS OVER Having survived the lethal Pendulum conspiracy, photographer John Wallace atones for his past mistakes. DI Patrick Bailey clings to the hope that he can, at last, return to a normal life in London. BUT IT'S ONLY JUST BEGINNING FBI investigator Christine Ash - alone and paranoid - hunts down the remaining members of the ruthless Foundation organisation. DARK FORCES ARE RISING AGAIN But when masked assassins strike at the heart of the UK government, a shocking new threat emerges that forces all three to reunite. DEADLIER THAN EVER BEFORE With time running out, they must defeat a lethal new adversary: a manipulative mastermind with sinister powers unlike anything they've seen before. 'Watch out, Jack Reacher and Alex Cross, the new generation is here!' - Crime Time

Being acquitted of Jamie's murder won't bring him back. Syed might be free, but he's lost his lover and his sub, along with his sense of control, his libido, his friends, and the stomach to inflict the kind of pain Jamie thrived on. Even his high-rise apartment doesn't suit him anymore. Dashiell is drawn to the handsome man he represented in court, but he's promised himself never to get involved with another confident playboy. His next boyfriend-if he can find such a thing-will see him as something more than a backup plan for a better offer. And how could he ever give a man like Syed what he wants anyway? Dashiell fears the day Syed will ask him to bear more pain than he can handle as Syed struggles to reconcile how he's coming to feel about Dashiell with how he still feels about Jamie. Can their fledgling relationship survive the discovery that Syed's new sub might be representing the man who murdered his last sub? Jamie deserves justice, Dashiell deserves love, and Syed wants to be the one to give both these men exactly what they need. Content warning: this book includes descriptions of homophobic hate crimes. There is very mild BDSM content. While Aftershock follows on the events of Aftercare, it can also be read as a standalone.

Over the last decade, we have sent thousands of people to fight on our behalf. But what happens when these soldiers come back home, having lost their friends and killed their enemies, having seen and done things that have no place in civilian life? In Aftershock, Matthew Green tells the story of our veterans' journey from the frontline of combat to the reality of return. Through wide-ranging interviews with former combatants -- including a Royal Marine sniper and a former operator in the SAS - as well as serving personnel and their families, physicians, therapists, and psychiatrists, Aftershock looks beyond the headline-grabbing statistics and the labels of post-traumatic stress disorder to get to the heart of today's post-conflict experience. Green asks what lessons have been learned from past wars, and explores the range of help currently available, from traditional talking cures to cutting-edge scientific therapies. As today's battle-scarred troops begin to lay their weapons down, Aftershock is a hard-hitting account of the hidden cost of conflict. And its message is one that has profound implications, not just for the military, but for anyone with an interest in how we experience trauma and survive.

Over the last decade, we have sent thousands of people to fight on our behalf. But what happens when these soldiers come back home, having lost their friends and killed their enemies, having seen and done things that have no place in civilian life? In Aftershock, Matthew Green tells the story of our veterans' journey from the frontline of combat to the reality of return. Through wide-ranging interviews with former combatants -- including a Royal Marine sniper and a former operator in the SAS - as well as serving personnel and their families, physicians, therapists, and psychiatrists, Aftershock looks beyond the headline-grabbing statistics and the labels of post-traumatic stress disorder to get to the heart of today's post-conflict experience. Green asks what lessons have been learned from past wars, and explores the range of help currently available, from traditional talking cures to cutting-edge scientific therapies. As today's battle-scarred troops begin to lay their weapons down, Aftershock is a hard-hitting account of the hidden cost of conflict. And its message is one that has profound implications, not just for the military, but for anyone with an interest in how we experience trauma and survive.