Book Review: Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all... (from Goodreads.com)

Like twisty, turning plots that will keep you on your toes? Well then Someone Else’s Life is for you! I honestly can’t imagine what was going on in Katie Dale’s head as she planned this story or how on earth she kept up with it all but it’s very, very clever. Every few chapters she hits you like a bolt out of the blue with another great twist, leaving me open mouthed.

Someone Else’s Life follows Rosie as she comes to term with the death of her mother from the hereditary condition Huntington’s disease and discovers that she isn’t actually her mum after all. Katie Dale doesn’t take a gently, gently approach. I was surprised at just how brutally honest Someone Else’s Life is from the very beginning.  Her characters are complex and flawed, and react in human ways, which aren’t always pleasant but are believable. This kind of book could easily get wrapped up in over sentimentality but Dale doesn’t give into it.

I knew absolutely nothing about Huntington’s disease before reading this book.  Without overwhelming the reader with medical jargon we get an insight into the terminal disease and genetics, which was very interesting. But this isn’t just a book about a family ripped apart by illness or a quest to find biological parents. It throws up many other questions along the way. Is knowing your fate being forewarned or is it better to enjoy your life while you can? How much does biology make a family or is is it down to more than DNA? Can changing the fate of others ever pay off even if you truly believe you are doing the right thing? as well as many others. Yet it manages to never be preachy and the questions are drawn from the readers themselves rather than thrust upon them from the author.

For such a complex book, Katie Dale manages to keep the story easy to follow and uncomplicated, even when the lives of the characters most definitely are. I’ve seen this book described as Picoult for a younger generation, and I’d agree it has some elements of Jodi Picoult’s novels. While I think it is more accessible though, Someone Else’s Life doesn’t simplify things and would appeal to both teens and adults alike. This is a gripping, emotional roller coaster with a very real and human cast. It does border on the over dramatic at times, and things fall into place a little too easily now and then, but over all I thought this was a very clever plot well done. I certainly couldn’t put it down and thought long and hard about some of the issues it raised, most particularly would I want to know if I was going to develop a horrendous illness sometime in my future? If you enjoy emotional, contemporary fiction, twists and turns and thought provoking subjects you’ll enjoy this book.




Ebook received via Netgalley for Review