“My dreams were of beginnings without endings”

Paula Garner’s Phantom Limbs centres around Otis and Meg, two teenagers torn apart by the tragic passing of Otis’s toddler brother, Mason. With him gone, their once parallel lives could not be more different, as Otis busies himself in escaping from his sorrow by losing himself in the world of swimming and Meg embarks on the very bumpy road of self-discovery, in another town far away from her former childhood kindred spirit.

Introducing Dara : a swimmer hopeful. She had dreams of competing in the Olympics, until an accident resulted in her losing one of her arms. Since the incident, she trains Otis, striving to ensure that he will pick up the baton and do her coaching him a whole lot of good and justice.

All is as it has been for three years, until Meg re-enters Otis’s life in the form of one fateful e-mail, detailing her possible desire to move back. She has the ability to shake Otis up in more ways than one : his friendships, potential career and mourning for baby brother Mason. He begins to question his feelings and decisions concerning his life after Meg’s departure from it.

This novel explores lost love, discusses the act of grieving on an intimate level and begs the reader to contemplate the concept of time and how it has next to no importance when it comes to getting over a grave loss. It is a raw account that displays just how necessary it is to search for a silver lining, no matter how faint. The realism within this book reminds the reader that grief comes about due to losses of many kinds ; if there is one binding element between us human beings, it is the inevitable experience of loss, which is as heart-wrenching as it is reassuring.

Sincerely,

✍︎ Sheeza