Everything Beautiful Began After: A Novel by Simon Van Booy

From book flap:

Rebecca is young, lost, and beautiful.  A gifted artist, she seeks solace and inspiration in the Mediterranean heat of Athens - trying to understand who she is and how she can love without fear.

George has come to Athens to learn ancient languages after growing up in New England boarding schools and Ivy League colleges.  He has no close relationships with anyone and spends his days hunched over books or wandering the city in a drunken stupor.

Henry is in Athens to dig.  An accomplished young archaeologist, he devotedly uncovers the city's past as a way to escape his own, which holds a secret that not even his doting parents can talk about.

...And then, with a series of chance meetings, Rebecca, George, and Henry are suddenly in flight, their lives brighter and clearer than ever, as they fall headlong into a summer that will forever define them in the decades to come.

My Thoughts:

I'm in love with this book.  I want to keep this book in my handbag all the time, so that I can re-read it and memorize passages from it and quote it to my friends and loved ones (which sounds annoying, but I just feel like the words that Simon Van Booy has written need to be heard).  I don't think I've encountered a book that has left me feeling this way, since I read Jean Rhys', After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (just so you know, it left me awestruck).  And so, I now realize that I must read everything Simon Van Booy has written, because I've been missing out. 

As for this particular story, its about three lost souls, who move to Athens in the hopes of escaping secrets from their past.  Along the way the stumble into each other's paths and soon find themselves working together at an archaeological dig.  Confusion and tension abound at first, when it comes to light that George is in love with Rebecca, who is now involved with Henry (who happens to be George's new best friend).  Awkward love triangle? Nope.  Not for this unlikely trio, who somehow manage to push past all the uncomfortable feelings and form a deep bond of friendship.  Its almost unreal how these intense and intimate connections appear to blossom so quickly, but somehow Van Booy makes it all work.  And then tragedy strikes and you are soon mired deep in a sadness and despair so heartbreakingly real that you can't help but shed tear after tear as you read on. 

Simon Van Booy has written a wonderfully rich novel that will leave you more than satisfied.  It will remind you just how good literature can be.  Now, I've purposely didn't delve any deeper into what happens within the novel, because you have to read it for yourself, ASAP!!  Suffice it to say that themes of love, loss, sadness and friendship are explored through three unforgettable characters' journeys to self-discovery.  You will not be disappointed!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book.