Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

The millions of readers who loved Niffenegger’s deeply affecting novel The Time Traveler’s Wife will not be surprised to learn her latest book is an unconventional love story. Her Fearful Symmetry captures love so deep it can be damaging.

Julia and Valentina are symmetrical twins – their bodies present mirror-images when they face each other. Valentina’s organs are even on the opposite side and she has suffered many health issues as a result. Their mother Edie is also a twin but has been estranged from her sister Elspeth for decades due to circumstances neither of them will discuss. When Elspeth dies in her forties, she leaves her apartment built into the wall surrounding famous Highgate Cemetery in London to Julia and Valentina.

The girls have already dropped out of three colleges when they receive this inheritance because they cannot agree on what they want to do and cannot imagine living separate lives. They quickly move into the middle apartment between Martin, a crossword puzzle creator who suffers from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, and Robert, Elspeth’s young lover who gives tours of the cemetery. One of the book’s strengths is the development of these peripheral characters. Martin’s wife leaves him at the beginning of the book despite their great love because she can no longer live the way his disease requires. His struggle to overcome his compulsions to regain her love is inspiring and touching. Robert’s grief at Elspeth’s death is palpable.

As the girls settle into the apartment and become close to Martin and Robert, they gradually realize that Elspeth’s ghost is trapped in the apartment with them. Valentina’s desire to live a life separate from her twin and Julia’s reluctance to be independent provide just the opening Elspeth seeks to make herself an integral part of their lives while driving a wedge between them.

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