Book Review – Gifted
When Emma’s younger son gets diagnosed with autism, everything else around her seems to fall apart. She ‘accidentally’ quits her job and her husband comments that 8 out of 10 marriages with a child on the spectrum fails…… can she keep her marriage together against the odds? Does she actually want to? What if Emma isn’t the person she thought she was?
Another Us is the debut novel by Kirsten Hesketh. The story is inspired by (but not about) Kirsten’s son who was diagnosed with mid Asperger syndrome when he was 10 years old. When I saw he opportunity to review this book I jumped at the chance. For the past year I have been part of a monthly book club, for most of this year it’s been a virtual book club. I love to read, I love our book club as we get to read a wide range of books, many of which I may not have read without the group.
I loved Another Us, from the very first page I couldn’t put it down. Right from the beginning of the story I fell in love with the main character, Emma. The story follows her family life which seems pretty perfect at the start, but cracks start to appear and spiral out of control.
It was a lovely book that was really easy to read. Like I said, I couldn’t put it down. Each chapter flowed and I loved the poignant style of writing that the author used. As a busy mum of three children, it was very relatable.
There was plenty of laugh-out loud moments as well as heartbreaking and moving parts which made it easy to fall in love which the book. It was an emotional and also witty story that looks at some pretty important issues including prejudices and labels. It was interesting to see how much Emma and her family expected their lives to chance just because of a label- once one of her sons was diagnosed with autism.
I have really struggled to find something I disliked about the book. I enjoyed the ending to and liked most of the characters. This is the perfect book to read over lockdown, a perfect escape and a heartwarming tale about family, love, marriage and life.
In our book club we rate books out of 10 and Another Us would get a 10 from me! I can’t wait to share this wonderful book with the rest of my book club.
Thank you to Kirsten Hesketh for giving me the opportunity to read and review your book.
Out and about mummy 