UNTWINE

Tragedy strikes twin sisters Giselle and Isabelle, and their world is changed forever.

Sixteen-year-old Giselle Boyer wakes up in a hospital room unable to speak or move. She recalls an accident while en route to Isabelle’s school orchestra concert. Was the accident her fault? And where are her parents, and where is Isabelle? Alternating between periods of awareness and unconsciousness, Giselle begins to piece together what happened to her family. She also conjures memories: of Isabelle, high-spirited, artistic, and brilliant; of their childhood and unbreakable bond; of their parents’ troubled marriage; and of blissful summers past spent in their family’s native Haiti. As she ponders, Giselle wonders who she is and who she will be without her twin. National Book Award nominee and American Book Award winner Danticat delivers a lyrical, heart-wrenching novel for teens about love (familial and romantic), friendship, and loss that traverses multiple worlds—between life and death, between twins, and between the past and the present. In a lyrical, often wistful first-person narration, Giselle seeks to uncover the forces behind the event that altered her life and the lives of everyone she loves. Her emotional pain is raw, and Danticat presents both it and the lingering physical injuries she and her parents struggle with unflinchingly.

An honest, endearing exploration of family, grief, and perseverance.