The Other Life by Ellen Meister

If you could return to the road not taken, would you?

Happily married and pregnant, Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision, she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice-not only that, she knows how to cross over. But even in her darkest moments-like her mother’s suicide-Quinn hasn’t been tempted to slip through…until she receives devastating news about the baby she’s carrying.

The grief lures her to peek across the portal, and before she knows it she’s in the midst of the other life: the life in which she married another man, and is childless. The life in which her mother is still very much alive.

Quinn is forced to make a heartbreaking choice. Will she stay with the family she loves and her severely disabled child? Or will an easier life-and the primal need to be with her mother-win out?

I loved this book! Ellen Meister has written an emotional and poignant story. There is a magical realism aspect to the story that keeps you instantly hooked and it all revolves around that age old question of “What if I had taken a different path?” or Did I choose the right path?”

Quinn Braverman faces these questions every day as she is able to travel back and forth between two different, parallel lives.  In one life she chose wild Eugene and is living a childless, carefree relationship and in the other she chose straight-laced Lewis and is expecting her second baby. The second baby has some medical issues that cause Quinn to question her role in life as well as the choices she made that led her to where she is now. What I thought was going to be a story solely about marriage was also about the intensity of mother/daughter relationships and how deeply it impacts our lives and the choices we make. Essentially, what Meister explores in The Other Life is a woman’s determination (whether subconsciously or not) to ultimately seek the approval of her mother. It is also about choosing our own destiny and how in the end, we can’t continue to second guess the choices we make. This is a powerful, moving and emotional story that is going to be a great read for book clubs.