Beginning ~ with a reason to be born

Beginning

When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn't how babies were made, but why. . . . I was born for a very specific purpose.  I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment.  I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's egg and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material.

My Sister's Keeper ~ by Jodi Picoult, 2004, fiction, 423 pages

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be.  By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood.  The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for her leukemia-stricken sister Kate, a life and a role that she has never challenged — until now.  Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is.  But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.