Here In The After by Marion Frith, HarperCollins

Trauma isolates its victims, creating a cauldron of private suffering, but it can also unite. This is the tender concept at the heart of Marion Frith’s poignantly topical debut novel. Nat, 35, is a veteran haunted by what he did in Afghanistan. Anna is a 62-year-old widow who is caught up in a horrendous terror attack in a Sydney travel agent. The story opens with Anna forced to the ground in a pool of blood, her captor wielding a knife. Her survival is miraculous but comes at a cost. Slowly an unlikely friendship develops between Nat and Anna and their shared knowledge of fear and guilt begins a healing. But is it enough to save them from going under? This beautifully woven story unlocks the tentacles of post-traumatic stress with a powerful punch.