the book of two ways

The book of two ways: a novel by Jodi Picolt. New York: Ballantine Books, 2020. 432 pages. Publication Date September 2020. *****

"Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong."

Dawn survives that plane crash and is faced with her life choices when told to "leave everything behind" Dawn had not contemplated her own death, what is a life well-lived, what is left unfinished? She has spent the last 15 years working as a death doula living a normal life with a husband and a daughter. A death doula helps those who are dying and their families transition the inevitable. Dawn is well-suited to the task, but it takes caring for someone her own age to cause her to question her life choices. Dawn throws caution to the wind when the airline offers to take her wherever she needs to go and she soon finds herself in Egypt seeking what she left behind 15 years ago; the man she once loved and an unfinished dissertation on The Book of Two Ways -- the first known map of the afterlife.

I have always been fascinated with anything Egyptian and curious about parallel timelines, so this book pulled me right in from the very beginning. I had never heard of a death doula and had to look it up. (more on that subject at the end of this post) One line in the book really struck me, "somewhere, in a parallel timeline, there is another me at my funeral." Picoult has the gift of tackling tough subjects, presenting controversial topics cloaked in fiction and leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions. The book of two ways is a story of love, friendship, secrets, promises made and not kept, choices and responsibility. I can't wait for someone I know to read it so we can discuss it, I have been talking about it all day to my husband, it is one of those books. I recommend it for Book Clubs, some fabulous discussion points.

The quote at the beginning of the book is so apropros "To die will be an awfully big adventure." J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

For more information about Jodi Picoult, visit https://www.jodipicoult.com
To learn more about her research and see pictures of her trip to Egypt: https://www.jodipicoult.com/the-book-of-two-ways.html

For more information on death doulas:
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/home-care/info-2018/end-of-life-doulas.html
Becoming a death doula
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-death-doulas-can-help-people-at-the-end-of-their-life#1

#deathdoula #paralleltimelines