You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

Gr 10 Up—Fraternal twins, Adina and Tovah, are driven young women with very definite plans for the future. Adina is a viola prodigy with a dream of becoming a soloist. Tovah's heavy AP class load for the last four years is about to pay off with her early acceptance to Johns Hopkins University, the first step in her path to becoming a surgeon. But there's a darkness looming that threatens to destroy those bright futures. On the eve of their 18th birthday, Adina wants Tovah to release her from the promise she made years ago—the promise to take the genetic test for Huntington's Disease. But Tovah insists—especially since she believes that Adina still owes her for past transgressions. The twins know firsthand what Huntington's does to a person's mind and body. They have been living with the specter of the disease since their Israeli mother was diagnosed four years earlier, and they have a 50–50 chance of developing it. When the results come in, one of them has tested positive. Solomon has created two distinct voices for Adina and Tovah. Neither girl is perfect, but both are realistically drawn as young women on the cusp of adulthood struggling with grief, guilt, and anxiety while trying to figure out their place in the world. The twins' use of profanity, exploration of their sexuality, and underage drinking helps make the characters three-dimensional.