Friday, May 30, 2008

All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard


16-year-olds Bridget and Maureen have been friends since elementary school. Nicknamed the Dyno Mytes, both girls are blonde with green eyes and are exactly the same height. Both are cheerleaders, and on the way home from practice one snowy night, the car veers over the yellow line and into the path of an oncoming big rig. The car is mangled, "the hood was smashed sideways, the wheels up off the ground." It "looked as if it had been wrung out like a wet towel." Both girls were unrecognizable, but it was Maureen's car, so they determined the identities based on driver and passenger. Though the paramedics worked furiously on both girls, and surgeons tried their best to stabilize them, Maureen didn't make it. Bridget was in a coma and her ultimate outcome was still unknown. It wasn't until after Maureen's funeral that the dental surgeon came around to check Bridget out. They would have to put in a permanent bridge to replace the teeth knocked out in the accident. But the teeth in the girl's mouth didn't match the Bridget's dental records. At all.

This is one of the most touching novels I have ever read. A tragic case of mistaken identity. Severe disability combined with a stubborn refusal to give up. The reawakening of life at the edge of death. This is, ultimately, an uplifting story of hope and faith.

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