I have yet to read The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I had heard good things about it and when I saw Her Fearful Symmetry on the library shelves, I picked it up. I’m happy that I did even though it contains a ghost haunting those left behind and an ending that I never would have imagined. As I’ve mentioned before, I am one who likes my stories….even my fiction…to be believable. This wasn’t quite believable but I liked the characters and was interested in where the story was going to go until the very last page.
Her Fearful Symmetry is the story of Elspeth Noblin. We do not get to know her very well in life but we learn more of her after her death. She lives in London and dies in her 40s of cancer leaving behind a much younger boyfriend who spends his time wandering, studying and writing about the Highgate cemetery. She leaves her London flat and an inheritance to her twin nieces who have never known her. They live in America and are the daughters of Elspeth’s twin sister that has not had a relationship with Elspeth in many years. The conditions of the inheritance are that the twins live in the flat for a year and do not allow their parents to come.
The twins, Valentina and Julia, are at a point in their live where they are not sure what else to do so they move to London and begin learning about Elspeth through her neighbors. Robert, her younger grieving boyfriend, and Martin, a man who is deeply affected by OCD and whose wife has left him because of his constricting lifestyle. Valentina and Julia have done everything together their whole life and fear making any move or decision that might separate them. They are mirror twins, so that even Valentina’s internal organs are reflected of Julia’s and on the wrong side. Valentina is more interested in moving on with her life and figuring out what to do while Julia wants to hold her close. Julia forms a friendship with Martin and tries to help him with his disease while Valentina falls deeply in love with Robert. Meanwhile, Elspeth’s spirit has remained in the apartment and she works to grow stronger and is eventually able to communicate with the twins and Robert in her apartment. Valentina and Robert both spend a lot of time communicating with her. Elspeth’s story comes out and Valentina becomes more assertive about the direction that she wants her life to take.
The ending of this book was very surprising. Some things I liked about it…and some things I didn’t. And that’s all I’m going to say.
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