"It isn't that I don't believe in God," Amiee reflected. "It's just that I don't much care for the 'god' that I do believe in." Should a loving bond between a child and her grandmother ever be a cause of concern? In Diane Reinstadtler's Afterlife, we will see that even a loving, Christcentered relationship that appears acceptable may be masking a form of idolatry that is no less preposterous than carving a statue from wood and then worshipping it. Such is the situation for a talented young Gothic Artist, Amiee Dauphine, whose unstable family life, and vivid imagination has inspired her to paint some very unusual muralstyle paintings. While she appears to be sophisticated and confident, identity issues frequently threaten to topple her carefully constructed public persona. On the threshold of success as a Gothic Artist, the worst has happened. Amiee's grandmother, who's loving attention has been the mainstay of her self-confidence, is dead. This is a story about grief, rejection, vulnerability, spiritual bondage, and eventual resolution. It is a tale of confidence misplaced, of pain and insecurity caused by a faith built on an inadequate foundation. It details one woman's quest for a solid identity; a thing insufficiently supplied by a world that will ultimately pass away. It is, to one degree or another, our own story--each and every one of us.