NEW RELEASE
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger (2009)
Set in and around the Highgate Cemetery, this story is about the intensity of the relationships between twins and about a ghost who won't move on. When Elspeth dies of cancer, a letter is sent to her twin Edie, who is the mother of twins Julia and Valentina. The sisters had been estranged for 20 years since Edie stole Elspeth's fiance, the twins' father. Elspeth leaves her London apartment to Julia and Valentina. The American girls have seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago. They also have an abnormally intense attachment to one another. As they move into the apartment, they start to get to know the other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the story unfolds, the girls realise that under the surface, there is a lot going on at the cemetery, including the presence of their Aunt Elspeth, who just can't make it to the other side. (PP)
