You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

Set in cold, dreary, and rainy Seattle, Washington, the place cements the stage for Rachel Lynn Solomon’s debut young adult (YA) novel, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone (2018). Solomon’s dark and evocative novel addresses complex and layered human emotions in the wake of serious, life-threatening illness. Solomon has two more books slated for publication in 2020 and 2021. Her books focus primarily on chaotic and messy relationships and the emotional depth of young women who are doing the best they can to find their way through the twists and turns of life.

Eighteen-year-old fraternal twins Adina and Tovah Siegel are both ambitious and driven young women though they have little else in common. Close as children, once they hit their teens, their relationship takes an opposite turn. Adina, a musical prodigy, aspires to become a serious student of music. She plays the viola and dreams of becoming a soloist. Adina also has romantic designs on her twenty-five-year-old music teacher. She hopes to convince him to feel as she does. Tovah, an overachiever, is awaiting acceptance to John Hopkins School of Medicine. She has her sights set on becoming a surgeon.

When the twins were fourteen years old, they learned that their mother, a woman of Israeli descent, had been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s is a hereditary neurodegenerative illness characterized by a degeneration of brain cells, loss of motor control, and dementia. It is progressive and incurable. Their home life is difficult as they bear daily witness to their mother’s suffering from memory loss, mood swings, and hallucinations. This experience further drives a wedge between the sisters.

When the twins are eighteen, they both undergo the genetic testing for the gene that causes Huntington’s. When the results come back, Adina tests positive while Tovah tests negative.

The tenuous bond between Adina and Tovah is stretched even tighter as this life-changing event causes them to lash out at each other and the world at large, as they search to escape the betrayal, guilt, and heartbreak that is consuming their lives. Adina sets off on a path of self-destruction. She ardently pursues a relationship with her music teacher, throwing caution to the wind. Tovah takes a contemplative approach, re-evaluating her future and leaning more heavily on her Jewish faith to give her guidance and wisdom.

As their mother’s disease progresses, new secrets are revealed, and the twins’ relationship continues to be pushed to its breaking point. Can a genetic test determine both of their fates? How can a relationship that has been so sorely tested be repaired and is it worth saving?

Solomon moves back and forth between Adina and Tovah’s points of view in a first person narrative. The characters come to life through their struggles and hardships as each of them search for identity and security. The family’s conservative Jewish faith is a beating pulse, connecting the characters by way of religious rituals, traditions, words, and concepts. The aftermath of a serious diagnosis strengthens one twin’s faith while the other rails against it. You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone tackles serious issues such as life-threatening illness and its effect on an entire family unit, human resilience, precarious sibling relationships, adherence to faith, mortality, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. A provocative and intense story with a strong religious undercurrent, it is recommended for those aged fourteen and up.

Solomon has written a novel that expands on the Jewish YA genre by casting a wider net than those novels focusing primarily on the Holocaust. She believes that while the Holocaust is a critical and ongoing part of Jewish history and should forever be a part of the Jewish narrative, other serious issues also inform Jewish faith such as the ones written about in You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone. Solomon believes these issues should also be a part of the conversation. In this timely novel, conservative Judaism is paired with a family in crisis and strong, goal-oriented, and sexually confident female characters.

Rachel Lynn Solomon is a Seattle native. She graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in journalism. She has worked for several media outlets, as a college essay coach, and as a recruiting manager for a national tutoring company. Solomon is an agent liaison on the Pitch Wars committee. She looks forward to cultivating one to one relationships with new and emerging writers. She currently splits her time between writing and editing. You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone is a Top Ten Winter 2017-2018 Indie Next Pick, a Spring 2018 Indies Introduce Selection, and Justine Magazine’s Most Anticipated Books 2018. It was also chosen as a Kids’ Indie Next Top 10, a 2019 Sydney Taylor Honor Book, and a February 2019 Indie Next New Paperback.