Mistaken Identity

The clean, attractive cover with two pretty blond US university students smiling on it, is one reason for buying this text. The summary on the back cover is equally riveting. Mistaken Identity is not fiction. Unbelievable though it is, it really happened.

Five students were killed in a road accident in Indiana. We are given little information about the accident but we learn that Laura Van Ryn, severely injured and comatose, was taken to hospital, while the Ceraks buried their daughter, Whitney.

For five weeks, the Van Ryns and Laura’s boyfriend sat at Laura’s bedside in a darkened room, watching over their heavily bandaged daughter until she began to react to stimuli and, to her psychotherapist, declared that her name was Whitney.

The text takes us from the day of the accident to the present. It is written by the two families. To a European, perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of the work is the way that the faith and belief of the two families helps both of them to live with what has happened and come to terms with the tragedy.

God plays a large part in the novel – possibly a disconcerting presence for many who do not share such active faith, but certainly a help for both families who have remained friends even after the astonishing mistake.

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