The Afterlife of Walter Augustus by Hannah Lynn

I finally finished reading The Afterlife of Walter Augustus by Hannah Lynn. It took me a while, not because it was boring (far from it) but life got in the way. My reading fell by the wayside and unfortunately so did this story. Recently I have been stuck at home with the dreaded covid so it gave me time to get stuck back into some books I have neglected, especially the story of Walter.

The Afterlife of Walter Augustus follows the story of a young ghost who longs to leave the Interim, the space between the living and the afterlife, but unfortunately, a women back on Earth finds a book he wrote and once she starts reading, Walter’s chances of passing over become very slim. He attempts to get her to forget about him but nothing ever goes smoothly.

Something I really like in the story (and other stories) is that it is told from two points of view. By doing this, I feel the reader can get a better picture of the literary landscape because you get two point of view. In the Afterlife of Walter Augustus, you have the story told from both Walter and Letty’s (the women on Earth) perspectives. It makes an amazing contrast between the living and the dead, as well as showing how the two characters interact when one of them isn’t aware the other is there.

I think, and its weird to say, that my favourite chapter of this story had to be the epilogue. A lot of stories we read, you don’t want them to finish, but at the end of The Afterlife of Walter Augustus, I really wanted to know how it all finished up. From every book I read, I like to try and take a phrase with me that has impacted me from the story. For The Afterlife of Walter Augustus, it has to be:

‘Love is not limited,’ Pemberton said. ‘It doesn’t get spread out or worn thin. I learnt that there. I learnt that, if you love someone new, it doesn’t make your love for anyone else weaker. You can’t love too many people, Walter. But you can miss out by not loving enough.’