Beginning in the basement of Foyle's bookshop in the Charing Cross Road in London and moving to rainmaking in Texas, love in Chew Magna, a camp in the Mendips, a storm at sea, sharks, sunstroke, a giant squid and a fight to the death on a raft, "After the Rain" is an adventure story that will keep you gripped to the very last page. An exhilarating, brilliantly conceived, sharply intelligent and often-funny story it is a compassionate and well-imagined fable that makes a serious comment on the human situation and established John Bowen as a novelist of depth and skill, drawing comparisons with George Orwell and William Golding.