One

Every so often, you come across a book that brings life around you to a standstill. It makes you stop and feel more than you think you are capable of feeling. It makes you hug yourself and breathe, so that you don’t get lost in the raw beauty of human emotion.

And as I live in the pages of a book like One, I find myself wondering, How can anyone write so beautifully?

One is among the most moving books I’ve ever read. Twice, I was able to sniff and move on. Once, I had to put the book away and let myself cry before I got back to reading.

Tippi and Grace are conjoined twins. They are privy to every detail of each other’s life, joined in blood and bone. They are both two and one, and this creates a bond that no one else can dream of sharing. They hold each other up, hooking their arms around each other’s waists, waking up to each other’s nightmares, and agreeing that the one thing neither of them must do is fall in love.

In everything else, Tippi and Grace will accompany each other to the ends of the earth. But love? How is it even possible?

For Tippi and Grace share the most powerful kind of love there is. If they are separated, can one survive without the other? Should one survive without the other?

One broke my heart. It is a novel in verse, the best form for a tale this poignant. It made me cry out in longing, in love, in empathy.