The Soft Room — Karen Heuler

Fiction. Karen Heuler's first novel, THE SOFT ROOM, is the tale of Abby and Meg, nearly identical twins, differentiated by the rare disease that has rendered Meg impervious to physical pain. When hit with hard economic times by their father's cancer, the family is forced to submit Meg to paying medical research. "THE SOFT ROOM starts with a provocative premise and twists its way into unexpected territory. Exploring the meaning of pain and duality, her characters end up in a weirdly life-affirming landscape-the shape morality takes when faced with cruelty and senseless harm. [Heuler] has a gift for the oblique, a quirky take on things that flows through the narrative like the atmosphere of a planet almost like our own. THE SOFT ROOM is a pleasure to read, fitting for a novel about sensation, and it also rewards the reader with memorable characters and ideas about important themes of our time"--Sally George