Someone Else's Life
“The doctors said high heels were just an accident waiting to happen and that, with everything else, was something she really didn’t need. I watched as she kissed each shoe before pressing the lid down gently, and tying the whole precious package together with a blue ribbon. The first of many sacrifices to Huntington’s.
That was a long time ago, though. That Mum died long before her heart stopped beating last Tuesday. The real Mum. How I’ll always remember her; wearing those precious shoes and swirling and whirling away to her heart’s content. Not lying alone, small and frail and empty, in a hospital bed.”
It’s Christmas, and Rosie’s mother, Trudie, has just died of Huntington’s disease. But was Trudie really Rosie’s mother and, if she wasn’t, why did she never tell Rosie – and what happened to Trudie’s own baby on that stormy night, 18 years ago? This is Jodi Picoult for teens – a totally gripping and compelling roller coaster of a story that unfolds on both sides of the Atlantic - about family secrets, relationships, deceit, DNA and, ultimately, the love that binds. There is also a touch of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter about it.
Age Group: Young Adult 12+
Praise for Someone Else's Life
“A girl who discovers she was swapped at birth and triggers an unstoppable chain of events in this riveting debut about families, relationships and long-buried secrets. A really gripping family drama that reads like a Jodi Picoult for teens.” – Children’s Bookseller ‘One To Watch’ Selection
“Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale was emotional, fearless, and completely heart wrenching! It is, without a doubt, a novel that will blow you away!” – Mochalatte Reads Blog
“A real rollercoaster of a ride through Rosie's search for the truth about her parentage and her origins, with one thing after another springing up to confuse and dismay her - this is a carefully constructed, thriller-like story, with Rosie uncovering facts about her mother and her father, and turning her own life and the lives of her friends and her new family upside-down along the way. Sensationally good, almost too good for young adults. Brilliant.” – Books Monthly Review
