After the Rain

"Rachel's grandfather is not an easy man to love. "Who's this?" he says, every time she calls. "It's me, Rachel." "Who?" He always says that, too. "Ra-chel!" "Oh, it's you. Why are you shouting? I'm not deaf." "How are you, Grandpa?" "How should I be?" Rachel feels she should talk more to Izzy, but every conversation with him is a trial. Then Izzy falls in the street, and the doctors discover he has cancer. He can no longer go on his beloved walks alone, and Rachel becomes his reluctant companion. The after-school visits begin as a chore, but gradually Izzy becomes the most important thing in Rachel's life - even more important than her friendship with Helena, her writing, and especially her new relationship with Lewis Olswanger. Told with tremendous depth of feeling and surprising humor, After the Rain is an unforgettable portrait of two spirited human beings - one grasping at his final days, the other embarking on young womanhood." --