Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Taking its name from a line in Susan Sontag's Illness as Metaphor, “Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.”, Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad is a memoir about living with cancer and the process of rebuilding your life once treatment is complete.
The uncontrollable itch and never-ending fatigue that started when Jaouad was in college led to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 22.
A diagnosis which meant Jaouad had to leave Paris and move back in with her parents in Saratoga Springs, New York.
The next few years were spent in treatment; chemotherapy, a clinical trial, and ultimately a stem cell transplant. When Jaouad began blogging about her life it garnered more attention than she expected and became a column in the New York Times entitled Life, Interrupted.
Jaouad writes beautifully about the impact cancer had on the people around her, particularly her parents, her brother, and her partner. She strikes the right balance between understanding that although this is her story to tell, the people involved also deserve their privacy. This is especially well handled when her relationship ends and when she talks about her friends, Melissa and Max.
The second half of the book takes us on the cross country road trip Jaouad embarks on to visit some of the people who wrote to her after reading her column.
The story switches from past to present tense as Jaouad rediscovers what it means to live a life that isn't centred around hospitals. All while acknowledging that this is a rediscovery many people, including her friends, will not get to make.
In not shying away from the difficult times or the joyous moments, Jaouad has written a compelling memoir that is hopeful without relying on false hope.
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad is published by Bantam Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and is available in hardback, paperback, ebook, and audiobook format.