Rachel Cusk (2012) Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation. London, Faber & Faber. 978-0-571-35164-0

 

Aftermath is the story of exactly that – the aftermath of Rachel Cusk’s separation from her husband and the setting up of a new home for herself and her daughters and a new life for herself, despite the trauma.

When Rachel Cusk published the novel, it provoked a huge backlash over the honesty of her description of the emotions that accompanied the breakdown of the marriage and her feelings about her daughters.

For me, it provided interesting parallels and contrasts with the trauma experienced by women leaving marriages and relationships due to domestic abuse. Neither is pleasant or easy and the escape from an abusive marriage still contains all this trauma alongside the issues around domestic abuse.