Story for the Week
The year I was born, more than 3.6 million babies were born in the United States. That’s nearly 10,000 per day. Worldwide, there were more than 117 million babies born…more than 320,000 per day. Considering the total population of the world, however, I don’t know anyone who shares my exact birthdate.
If I lived in California, which is where I was born, or if my father had been in the Air Force for more than a few months after I was born, things might have been different. I might have grown up knowing some of the 18 other babies born the same night I was (Last One Left in the Nursery….).
The odds of knowing someone who shares just the month and day of your birth are significantly higher. It’s estimated that everyone shares a birthday with approximately 20 million people. My sister shares a birthday with an uncle on my dad’s side. My brother shares a birthday with one of our cousins. Growing up, I didn’t share a birthday with anyone that I knew of.
As it is, I only know of one other person who shares my birthday. I call him my birthday bud because it’s one of Corinne’s school friends. We discovered the fact that we share a birthday when they were in grade school. We used to greet each other with a high five and “Hey, birthday bud!” One year, he was so excited that he asked his mom if we could have a joint birthday party. His mom graciously explained to him that she didn’t think I would want a bunch of little boys running around my yard on my birthday.
He’s the only one I know. I went to college with someone who has a birthday the day after mine. One of my brothers-in-law has a birthday the day before mine. But no one else in my circle, that I know of, shares my birthday.
Around the same time we discovered my birthday bud, we also discovered that Dennis shared a birthday with another of Corinne’s school friends. Corinne was upset that she didn’t have a birthday bud of her own. Imagine how excited she was when she found out her fourth-grade teacher shared her birthday. They instantly became bonded forever. 🥰
Now that she’s older, having someone share her birthday isn’t nearly as exciting to her as having a best friend from another state who she met randomly in New York during a leadership program. And then finding out this new best friend was born less than 12 hours after she was (This One Time at Summer Camp).
I recently finished a book about two women born on the same day in the same hospital, and they randomly meet on their 45th birthday. What happens after makes me not so sure I want to meet what they called a “birthday twin.” I’ll stick with my birthday bud, thank you very much.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 Stars for None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
380 pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: August 8, 2023
The Creepy Book Club selection for September 2023, purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
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Main Characters:
- Alix Summer – 45 years old, podcaster, just finished a series about successful women, married for 15 years, two school-age children Eliza and Leon
- Nathan Summer – Alix’s husband, corporate high-rise leasing agent, prone to going on drinking benders and staying out all night on the weekends
- Josie Fair – 45 years old, works for a seamstress where she started at 35, married to Walter since she was 19, two adult children Erin and Roxy, Erin is a recluse in her room gaming all day, Roxy left home at 16
- Walter Fair – 72 years old, retired, plays games on his laptop most of the day
What the heck did I just read?!? Whatever it was, I want more of it!
This creatively written novel intersperses “real-time” storytelling with screenplay excerpts from a Netflix original series “Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin!” The screenplay includes transcriptions of Alix’s interviews with Josie for her podcast and provides readers with insight into something that clearly went awry.
I felt like it started a bit slow, which is why the 4 stars. We know early on that Josie is on the strange side. Even though we as readers have a more complete understanding of everything that’s happening, Alix seems completely oblivious and way too accepting of everything Josie tells her.
As the story unfolds and more and more people are interviewed for the Netflix series, the twists actually add more suspense. We come to realize that, consistent with the title, we can’t possibly know what is and isn’t true.
So while the book seemed to start slowly, about 40% of the way in, things really picked up, and I didn’t want to stop. I spent several nights speeding through this as late as I possibly could. I have never read anything by Lisa Jewell before, but I will definitely be reading her work again.
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