Before Ever After

Name: Before Ever After
Price: 24.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781804999875

Samantha Sotto Yambao

$24.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Penguin (Transworld)
21 July 2026

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

A time travel romance with a twist, from the bestselling author of Water Moon

Three years after her husband Max's death, Shelley feels no more adjusted to being a widow than she did that first terrible day. That is, until the doorbell rings. Standing on her front step is a young man who looks so much like Max-same smile, same eyes, same age, same adorable bump in his nose-he could be Max's long-lost relation. He introduces himself as Paolo, an Italian editor of American coffee table books, and shows Shelley some childhood photos. Paolo tells her that the man in the photos, the bearded man who Paolo says is his grandfather though he never seems to age, is Max. Her Max. And he is alive and well.

As outrageous as Paolo's claims seem - how could her husband be alive? And if he is, why hasn't he looked her up? - Shelley desperately wants to know the truth. She and Paolo jet across the globe to track Max down -if it is really Max - and along the way, Shelley recounts the European package tour where they had met. As she relives Max's stories of bloody Parisian barricades, medieval Austrian kitchens, and buried Roman boathouses, Shelley begins to piece together the story of who her husband was and what these new revelations mean for her \""happily ever after.\"" And as she and Paolo get closer to the truth, Shelley discovers that not all stories end where they are supposed to.

By: Samantha Sotto Yambao
Imprint: Penguin (Transworld)
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 127mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 200g
ISBN: 9781804999875
ISBN 10: 1804999873
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 21 July 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Samantha Sotto Yambao is a professional daydreamer, aspiring time traveller, and speculative fiction writer based in Manila. She is the author of Before Ever After, Love and Gravity, A Dream of Trees, and The Beginning of Always. Water Moon, her latest novel and UK debut, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.