Inheritance - Kath O'Connor - ★★★

AUTHOR: Kath O'Connor

GENRE: Literary Fiction

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A novel with an emotional story and an even more poignant backstory. I wish it had worked better for me, but the writing was too meandering, and the plot not exactly as promised.

Story Synopsis:

2016. Rose, an oncologist, is planning to go for IVF. During the initial testing, she discovers that she is a carrier of a mutated BrCa1 gene, which makes her highly susceptible to certain types of cancer. While she deals with the shock of this news, she learns about her grandmother Nellie, whose early death from stomach cancer was traumatic to the family. Rose also has to deal with her aged father’s health situation, which adds to her mental load.

The story comes to us in the alternating perspectives of Rose – written in the third person present tense, and Nellie – written in first person past tense.

First the backstory of the novel:

Author Kath O'Connor was a writer and General Practitioner in Australia. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015 and wrote this novel while living with cancer, through many treatments and their side effects. After Kath's diagnosis, she discovered that she shared a BrCa1 gene mutation with her grandmother, who died from the same disease in 1950.

In 2019, Kath died from ovarian cancer while working on the final draft of Inheritance. She was just 45. Her partner and family, with Kath's writing mentor, Inga Simpson, completed the manuscript so that Kath's dream of publication could be realised. Royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to WomenCan: Funding Gynaecological Cancer Research.

I opted for this novel after reading the above note in the blurb. I thought this novel would be a poignant read about two women battling cancer. While this was partly valid, the end result was quite mixed for me.

Bookish Yays:

✔ The author’s experience as a medical practitioner is visible in all scenes related to medicine or health. Medical details are woven into the writing almost casually and without feeling exaggerated or complicated for us lay readers.

✔ Nellie’s historical timeline covers the medical aspects even more brilliantly, as her battle with stomach cancer comes across as emotional and genuine, especially because of being written in first person. Moreover, the cancer treatment of those days is also written accurately, presenting a sharp contrast between then and now.

✔ Rose’s timeline involves her relationship with her partner Salima, and her own father Ernie. The former offers a realistic look at a mature lesbian relationship, while the latter shows the difficulty of dealing with aged parents who can be quite adamant.

✔ I loved the cover, which so beautifully depicts the intertwined nature of Nellie and Rose through their shared genetic tragedy.

Bookish Nays:

❌ Salima’s background (Pakistani from Lahore) somehow doesn’t feel authentic. While I liked the representation, some parts of the portrayal just didn’t ring true to my South-Asian eyes.

❌ Each timeline wove in multiple elements in addition to the cancer-related theme. Rose’s track had her dad’s drunkenness and resultant health issues, and also references to the refugee crisis, courtesy his earlier work as an immigration lawyer. Nellie’s timeline, in addition to covering her cancer, also includes her friendship with rebellious Ruth, and their involvement with the communist and feminist movements. The disparate topics left me feeling annoyed because I was keen on knowing mainly about Nellie’s cancer and Rose’s genetic mutation and its effects. The rest felt like distractions.

All in all, the core arc of Nellie’s cancer is well-written and gut-punching. But the rest of the tracks diluted the overall impact of the book for me. Maybe if you go in better prepared to read a story with various hard-hitting issues instead of expecting a cancer-dominated plot, you will relish this poignant read better.

My thanks to Affirm Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Inheritance”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.