What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins

 This was kind of a strange story about a bunch of lost souls. Isaac is a Quaker, a teacher, and not really a warm and fuzzy kind of guy. His wife has left him for another man. His handsome, popular son, Daniel, has been murdered by Jonah, the boy next door, who then committed suicide. Then one day, a pregnant teenage girl appears in his yard. He takes her in, doesn't believe the story she's concocted, but lets her stay. (Which truthfully, didn't really make sense, but there wouldn't be a story without Evangeline.) The two form a sort of uneasy family, but she really bonds with Lorrie, Jonah's mother, who lives next door. Isaac, however, is very angry at Lorrie, who, he is convinced, knew that Jonah had killed his son way before the body was found. 

There's a lot of religion in this book. And not a lot of the characters are really likeable. And yet, I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened to everyone. I was glad the author didn't go for a fairy tale ending, where Isaac and Lorrie fell madly in love and created a perfect family for Evangeline and her baby. The realism is what made the story work but it did not make for a joyful reading experience.