Richard Wright, Orvil E. Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs and Geography
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Six months ago I recommended Case Histories by the same author. Case Histories is an excellent detective story. Life After Life is more ambitious and accomplished. In fact, it’s an astonishing novel. The protagonist, Ursula Todd, is born and dies in the first two pages, then dies again a little later, and then again and again. Atkinson applies the idea of an accident of birth to an entire life course to explore family, how history is shaped, and the horrors of war.