Author: Henry Zhang
Date: 1 June 2020
Have you ever heard of clones? Whether you have or not, this novel called "Originals," written by Cat Patrick in 2013, will take you on a journey with three cloned high school girls who are forced to live one life, splitting their day into three parts. The person behind all this is their "mother."
Lizzie, Ella and Betsey Best are clones created by a secret organization of scientists, one of them - their mother. Since it is a secret and illegal, after the organization's creator was arrested, their mom took the three girls. She went into hiding, living as a doctor and making the three girls live as one person: Elizabeth Best.
The story is set in the modern-day United States, in the state of California. The main character, Lizzie, is just like any other teenage girl. She goes to a high school, participates in cheerleading for the local sports team. But that is all only on the surface! Lizzie and her two other "sisters" live as one person. Ella goes to school in the morning, goes home during lunch, and Lizzie goes to the afternoon part of the school. For Betsey, she does all the evening activities, like cheerleading and night school.
Everything is going well until Lizzie and Ella fall in love with two different boys. Their mother decides to choose Ella's love David, over Lizzie's pick Sean, and Lizzie is not happy at all. As if that wasn't enough, Sean runs into her and David while she is covering a date for Ella. Then as Lizzie is apologizing to mom, she finds out that mom is hiding some secret from the girls. Lizzie begins to believe that mom isn't a moral person. She and Betsey then find more weird things in mom's office. They think that the person who provided them with genes is still alive even though mom told them years ago that the Original is dead.
After some reasonably heated debates, Lizzie finds out that David is cheating on Ella. She and her sisters decide to explain everything to Sean. Lizzie gets to date Sean secretly—until when mom finds out. In the meantime, the three sisters keep trying to find information about the "Original" and succeed. However, it isn't the Original, but just another girl created with the same gene! While Lizzie, Betsey, and Ella search for the truth, another secret scientist emerges in the city they are living in. The scientist is trying to find more information about them and trying to get their mom to work for her.
The story goes on, but you'll have to experience it yourself, I'll stop spoiling from here. Overall, this is an exciting novel. It combines romance, suspense, self-identity and family all together, creating a true masterpiece. It also shows the struggles of the main characters Lizzie and Sean. Lizzie isn't sure what to say to her mom, while Sean, on the other hand, keeps giving her courage, trying to convince her to confront her mom. Eventually, the girls find out the truth, but I won't say it here. Read the book to find out the secrets for yourself!
Andrew Burmakin
Megan Jorgensen
Maria Konnikova
John Fowles
Paul Scharre
Cat Patrick