by Kylie Kaden
Publisher: Pantera Press, 2023
Publisher’s blurb
From the best-selling author of One of Us and The Day the Lies Began comes an emotional and gripping story of a man running from his past and the woman who wants his future.
Her family offered her a neat life of privilege and power, until Lotti turned away from her father’s plans – and toward what she really wanted. Now happy as a primary school teacher, Lotti may even have found the right man, a single dad, not the kind of guy who will fit in with her family, but who nonetheless feels like home.
But Lotti isn’t the only one running from her past. August’s strong silent demeanour may be part of his attraction, but as they get closer, his inability to talk about his past begins to interfere with their future.
When August receives a cryptic text message that prompts an immediate departure, Lotti and Augie’s six-year-old son Otto follow him to his small hometown where decades of lies begin to unravel. When details of a shocking crime emerge, Lotti will have to decide if she trusts the man August has become more than she fears the man he once was.
Review
by Jacqui Horwood
This is Queensland writer Kylie Kaden’s fifth work of fiction and the first that I have read. It won’t be my last. Kaden’s books focus on human behaviour; the complexities of relationships; and the lasting impacts of trauma and past decisions.
After The Smoke Clears is told by Lotti and Augie, two people who have left their pasts behind and found each other despite their differences. Lotti comes from a privileged background and, while Augie refuses to talk about his past, it is clear his upbringing was not easy. He is a single dad to six-year-old Otto, who is deaf.
The book starts with the unfolding of how Lotti and Augie came to be together. Their relationship is new, and they are tentatively building trust in each other. One night a phone call from Augie’s oldest friend leads him back to his hometown and to secrets he’d rather keep hidden; secrets that threaten to upend his life with Lotti. Lotti however has secrets of her own.
This is the story about family and childhood trauma, and how parents and the significant others in a young person’s life can make choices that leave a lasting scar on young skin. Lotti is coming out from underneath the influence of her father, a prominent politician, and is trying to make her own decisions. Her voice is still hesitant and unsure. She is learning to trust her instincts. Following Augie to his hometown and uncovering his secrets has her questioning herself. Augie desperately wants to trust Lotti and open up to her but fears the consequences.
Once in Augie’s hometown, the pace of the story picks up as Augie’s chapters flick between the past and present and we the readers gather the clues. People from Augie’s childhood loom large, not all of whom wish him well.
This is a fast-paced story that sensitively covers childhood trauma and abuse while keeping the reader guessing.