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Summary
Summary
In this edge-of-your-seat psychological debut, a mother's experience with Vanishing Twin Syndrome triggers disturbing changes in her teenage daughter, perfect for fans of The Push and The Undoing.
"My Name Was Eden is a compulsive, didn't-see-it-coming thriller."--Abigail Dean, international bestselling author of Girl A
One twin vanished. The other twin remained. Until now...
When her daughter Eden came home from the hospital, Lucy was profoundly relieved. Eden had survived a drowning incident and had no apparent brain damage, no serious injuries, not even a scratch on her. Lucy fervently welcomed having a second chance at being the good mother she should have been before her teenager's accident.
Until Eden tells her that Eden isn't her name. Until she starts calling herself Eli. The name Lucy had reserved for Eden's unborn twin.
Don't worry, says the doctor. Eden is completely fine, says her husband. Of course I'm fine, Eden says, with that strange new smile of hers. I didn't die. I'm here.
But Lucy knows something's very wrong with Eden. She's not her maddening, complicated teenage girl anymore--this straight-backed, even tempered, steady-eyed child in her house is someone else entirely. Eden, it seems, is the twin who disappeared...
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Barker-White debuts with a flimsy domestic thriller about a British mother's unnerving experience with vanishing twin syndrome. Lucy Hamilton's life seems perfect: she lives in a large house on the outskirts of England's Lake District, where she dotes on her handsome, successful husband, James, and precocious 14-year-old daughter, Eden. Then tragedy strikes. After Eden nearly drowns in a small lake near the Hamiltons' home one afternoon, she loses consciousness and it's touch-and-go at the hospital as doctors attempt to revive her. When she finally wakes up, she tells the medical staff that her name is Eli--the same name Lucy chose for Eden's brother when she learned she was pregnant with fraternal twins. Due to a rare condition called vanishing twin syndrome, Eden absorbed Eli while both were still in Lucy's womb, but it now appears that the unborn boy has emerged from the depths of Eden's consciousness. Unlike his sister, he's less willing to keep family secrets and prone to violence. Chapters alternate between the perspectives of Lucy and a friend of Eden/Eli's, but Barker-White never quite utilizes the dueling viewpoints or Lucy's unsettling plight to ignite a properly nerve-shredding thriller, and the plot reversals are too obvious for things to take flight. This misses the mark. (Feb.)
Booklist Review
Lucy Hamilton loves her teenage daughter, Eden, but she doesn't always like her very much. Lucy's already complicated maternal feelings are compounded by a steady stream of what-ifs. Eden was meant to be a twin, but her brother died in utero. Lucy and her husband had grieved for unborn baby Eli, but Lucy never fully let go of the idea of a family of four. After a near-death experience lands Eden in the hospital, her recovery changes the shape of the Hamilton family yet again--and not entirely for the better. This darkly atmospheric thriller in the vein of Nicola Marsh's The Scandal (2020), Helen Klein Ross' What Was Mine (2016), and Nicole Baart's Little Broken Things (2017) puts a family's long-held secrets in jeopardy under mysterious circumstances. Lucy serves as the central narrator, but Eden and her best friend, Charlie, voice a few chapters, adding layers of intrigue. Exploring the shared burdens of grief, recovery, and misplaced loyalties, My Name Was Eden is a compelling debut.
Library Journal Review
DEBUT The unreliable narrator in Barker-White's debut has good reason to be uncertain about what she thinks is true. Housewife Lucy is mildly concerned when her teenage daughter Eden doesn't show up after school. Concern turns to horror when Eden is pulled unresponsive from a nearby lake. When Eden is revived, Lucy and her husband James are thrilled. Then Eden's behavior changes radically. She insists that her name is Eli, which alone wouldn't be too alarming, as teenagers explore identity all the time. But Eli was Eden's twin who vanished in the womb. As Eden's behavior becomes more alarming, it seems that only Lucy is concerned. After postpartum depression, she has always felt disconnected from Eden, made worse by Eden's closeness to James. This new version of her child is so different--and now Eden/Eli is taking steps, sometimes dangerous, scary ones, to make sure things go her way. VERDICT This strong debut successfully explores intergenerational trauma in a twisty thriller with enough notes of horror to require reading with all the lights on. For fans of Zoje Stage and Lucinda Berry.--Jane Jorgenson