Life After Life

I am back after a prolong hiatus and ready to beginning again. The one strange thing about the soon to be released titles is that two books are coming out within weeks of each other with the same title.

Life After Life by Jill McCorkle comes out March 26, 2013. McCorkle, a Tar Heel born and bred and a graduate of UNC, is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Many of her books have been award winning and this one is well reviewed. Here, her first novel in 17 years, she investigates the lives of the people who live in a southern retirement home. Her characters are unforgettable and run true to her southern roots. Each one is a fully developed individual that you grow to love, flaws and all. If you enjoy character development, this is a book for you. It has recevied glowing reviews.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson comes out on April 2, 2013 in the United States. It came out on March 5th in Great Britain and is already nominated for the Women's Prize (which use to be the Orange Prize) for fiction. She is up against Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Hilary Mantel's Bringing Up the Bodies so you know this story must be good. Atkinson is British and many of her titles have also been award winning. She has written a story which does require a leap of faith though. One of the reviewers described it this way  -
"This is the story of Ursula Todd's live(s), and of her death(s), and of how she lives when given a second chance. Each time she dies (and returns) she obtains a sense of deja vu from her past lives. She uses these bits of knowledge from these previous scenes of life to "get it right" and to change the outcome of her life now. Practice makes perfect after all. "

One wonders how this coincidence will effect the two very different works. You also wonder if one them wasn't tempted to go back and change the title. I know I would have been tempted. However, in their own individual way, the title suits both works. See what you think.