You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon (review)

Adina and Tovah, fraternal twins, agreed that when they turned eighteen they'd test to see if they inherited their mother's Huntington's disease; the results indicate that Tovah didn't, but Adina did. Adina is a prodigiously gifted violist, applying to conservatory and ready to take the music world by storm, but how much longer will she have before the disease impairs her playing? Meanwhile, Tovah, a driven science student expecting to attend Johns Hopkins and then become a doctor, struggles with the import of her twin's diagnosis and some twists in her own future plans. The book alternates narration between the two as it follows them through the year, exploring the history of their fraught relationship, splintered in the aftermath of their mother's diagnosis four years previously, and tracing the evolution of their reactions. Characterization is compelling and believable: Adina, accustomed to being sexually wanted but now hoping for more, embarks on a torrid affair with her young viola instructor; Tovah is surprised to find herself shyly dating an art nerd and stunned when her carefully laid plans for college don't pan out. The dynamic between the sisters is plausibly troubled and intense, with damage in both directions and self-identities viewed in misguided contrast (to Tovah, Adina is "the girl who always gets what she wants"), and it's clearly not a situation where a neat resolution is inevitable. Whether they've had their own life-changing news or not, readers will appreciate this story of heartbreak and, ultimately, family resilience. DS