Her

Wall Street Journal Favorite Books of the Year 2013Cosmopolitan Best Books of the Year for WomenLibrary Journal Best Books of 2013Salon Best Books of 2013Haunting... more than a beautifully written memoir. [A] powerful and raw love letter.―The Washington PostA BLAZINGLY PASSIONATE MEMOIR OF IDENTITY AND LOVE: WHEN A CHARISMATIC AND TROUBLED YOUNG WOMAN DIES TRAGICALLY HER IDENTICAL TWIN MUST STRUGGLE TO SURVIVEChrista Parravani and her identical twin Cara were linked by a bond that went beyond siblinghood beyond sisterhood beyond friendship. Raised up from poverty by a determined single mother the gifted and beautiful twins were able to create a private haven of splendor and merriment between themselves and then earn their way to a prestigious college and to careers as artists (a photographer and a writer respectively) and to young marriages. But haunted by childhood experiences with father figures and further damaged by being raped as a young adult Cara veered off the path to robust work and life and in to depression drugs and a shocking early death. A few years after Cara was gone Christa read that when an identical twin dies regardless of the cause 50 percent of the time the surviving twin dies within two years; and this shocking statistic rang true to her. Flip a coin she thought those were my chances of survival. First Christa fought to stop her sister''s downward spiral; suddenly she was struggling to keep herself alive. Beautifully written mesmerizingly rich and true Christa Parravani''s account of being left one half of a whole and of her desperate ultimately triumphant struggle for survival is informative heart-wrenching and unforgettably beautiful.