Winner of the Carnegie Medal * Winner of the YA Book Prize * Winner of the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award
Tippi and Grace share everything—clothes, friends . . . even their body. Writing in free verse, Sarah Crossan tells the sensitive and moving story of conjoined twin sisters, which will find fans in readers of Gayle Forman, Jodi Picoult, and Jandy Nelson.
Tippi and Grace. Grace and Tippi. For them, it's normal to step into the same skirt. To hook their arms around each other for balance. To fall asleep listening to the other breathing. To share. And to keep some things private. Each of the sixteen-year-old girls has her own head, heart, and two arms, but at the belly, they join. And they are happy, never wanting to risk the dangerous separation surgery.
But the girls' body is beginning to fight against them. And Grace doesn't want to admit it. Not even to Tippi. How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives?
Carnegie Medal–winning author Sarah Crossan gives us a story about unbreakable bonds, hope, loss, and the lengths we will go to for the person we love most.
Sarah Crossan is the author of the duology Breathe and Resist, as well as the acclaimed novel-in-verse The Weight of Water, which was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal. She spent several years living and teaching high school in New Jersey before moving to London, where she now lives with her husband and young daughter.
“Grace’s elegant and intimate first-person narration combines with her wry sense of humor to create a likable character in a believable situation. This is honest, unapologetic realism from a diverse perspective not often seen in young-adult fiction. Not to be overlooked.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Employing free verse to chronicle their coming of age, British author Crossan smoothly embeds historical and medical information regarding her well–researched topic while intently portraying each twin’s personality and unique characteristics. …Crossan trusts her characters and her readers to find their better selves through her gently paced story.” — Booklist
“Writing mainly from Grace’s perspective, Crossan interjects the voices of friends and family, offering a glimpse of the difficulties conjoined twins and their loved ones face. In asking important questions about how bodies shape identity, Crossan’s novel achieves a striking balance between sentimentality and sisterly devotion. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Poignant and compelling…Though the sisters have unique physical challenges, they share that universal teen desire to fit in, fall in love, and find a distinct identity.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“Through her understated, evocative narration, Grace’s coming of age becomes a meditation on difference, a celebration of the deepest bonds of sisterhood, and…a stirring tragedy. Grace’s uniquely moving “story of how it is to be Two” will inspire compassion-and elicit plenty of tears.” — The Horn Book
“A tender yet resilient story of closeness and identity…it’s a story of Grace, who’s built her entire identity and existence on being entwined with her sister and who now contemplates what it would mean to be a single person.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)