Donna Mebane grew up wanting to be two things: a mother and a writer. She became a mom after the birth of her first child, Jason. She became a writer after the death of her youngest child, Emma.
While Donna has been an active business writer for many years, she first became a published author in 2013 after she wrote Tomorrow Comes: An Emma Story in order to create a future for her 19-year-old daughter who went to sleep one night and never woke up. “In my heart,” Donna observes, “I could not accept that Emma – who was so vibrant, so alive, so central to so many lives – simply didn’t exist anymore.”
Emma lives on in AFTER
In Tomorrow Comes, on the day Emma’s eyes fail to open here on Earth, they pop open bright and shiny in a magical, mystical place called AFTER where Emma can still be pretty much herself. But she quickly discovers some very cool differences. She has the house to herself, she can shop without money, and she can use her car to transport to wherever she wants to go. She lays clear claim to the ‘party queen’ title when she gets THE Michael Jackson to sing at an impromptu get-together in her basement.
Over time, Emma develops command of new abilities that allow her to stay in touch. She observes events back in BEFORE, including her own funeral. She reads Facebook posts about how much people are missing her. She also figures out how to send signs from AFTER and connect directly with loved ones, and she uses these talents to help steer them through their grief.
A one-of-a-kind-work of ‘Reality Fiction’
Donna calls Tomorrow Comes a work of “reality fiction” because it captures the reality of grief that family and friends endured after Emma died at the same time that it creates an enchanting fictional world of AFTER where Emma can live on in her fun-loving, rule-bending ways.
The story is told from a variety of perspectives, weaving the storyline of Emma’s new encounters and adventures with the experiences of family members who are grappling with the heartbreak of losing her. Each perspective brings fascinating new insights and, as Kirkus Reviews sums up, “the stirring moral of each journey remains the same: it will all be OK.”
Background of the author
Born in Pennsylvania as the daughter of a US Navy Commander, Donna Mebane moved frequently in her childhood years and so developed an easy, approachable style and a warm sense of humor that helped her make new friends easily. She applies these same attributes to her writing, mixing gentle good humor with heart-breaking authenticity and simple, accessible language with profound truths about loss and hope.
Donna lives with her husband, Rod, and daughter, Sarah, in Geneva, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Her son, Ben, also lives in Geneva and son, Jason, lives in Seattle. Emma is always close in spirit. Donna is currently working on a Tomorrow Comes sequel, with the working title, Tomorrow Matters.
“An emotional novel about grief and the enduring power of love after death.”
– Kirkus Reviews
FICTION & LITERATURE
TOMORROW COMES
BY Donna Mebane • POSTED ON May 1, 2013
A teenager dies and discovers a new world on the other side in Mebane’s debut novel.
Nineteen-year-old Emma Mebane is a bubbly, well-liked college student from a close-knit Chicago-area family. She’s home from school for the summer when the unthinkable happens: She dies suddenly in her sleep. Her friends, family and community are left in a state of shock—how will they go on without her? Emma, however, can see all these events unfolding. After she awakens with her late Aunt Patsy, Grandpa and other loved ones in a place that she calls “After,” she finds that she can invisibly observe and move among her mourning family members. In the weeks following her death, Emma must learn how to balance her “before” life with her afterlife and learn how to tell her family that she is indeed OK in her world while still allowing them to move on in theirs. With help from her late relatives and other old and new friends, Emma learns that love doesn’t end when life does but in fact grows stronger. This book was inspired by the story of Mebane’s real-life daughter, also named Emma. It’s truly a labor of love, and readers can easily imagine Emma’s vivacious love of life. The novel, however, is not without flaws, as the structure can be a bit confusing. For example, each chapter is headed by a different character, a device which muddles the plotline; a more straightforward structure would likely have served the book better. The work also contains many long, hard-to-follow sections of italicized thoughts, mostly Emma’s. Overall, however, the characters are well fleshed out, and each family member offers a different perspective on the process of mourning. It’s shown to be a distinctive experience for every individual, but the stirring moral of each journey remains the same: It will all be OK.
An emotional novel about grief and the enduring power of love after death.
Publisher: Starshine Galaxy
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2014
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