On Sep. 29, The Girl With Nine Wigs is coming to a bookstore near you. Sophie van der Stap’s non-fiction account of her battle with cancer is both engaging and imaginative. It is an uplifting story that will make you laugh and cry as you follow the author’s adventures.
Sophie is a university student with a daily running routine. She’s a normal, healthy young woman, until she isn’t. Losing energy and weight and suddenly short of breath, she starts visiting doctors to find out what’s wrong. The diagnosis isn’t good. She has an aggressive rare form of cancer that’s difficult to treat.
As the story moves along, Sophie becomes depressed. She loses her identity, no longer caring about mundane issues like other people her age. She feels lonely and unloved and when she loses her hair, a huge part of her heart goes with it. But the story isn’t about her wallowing in self-pity. Instead, she finds a way to move on and gain self-confidence: through a set of nine acquired wigs.
Each wig that Sophie buys or is given, gives her a new personality based on how she looks with it on. “Sue” is a short, spicy red wig that makes her bold and decisive. “Daisy’s” long blonde curls make her a romantic. “Bebe’s” straight, long blonde strands make her exotic and sexy. And there’s six others that all make her realize different aspects of her personality – who she is and who she isn’t.
Sophie wears the wigs every day as she goes out with friends, mingles with strangers and fights her disease. The story focuses on Sophie’s bravery and her search for love. Will she beat the odds? Will she find someone who can love her despite her disease?
The story is beautiful and well written. Sophie is strong and the book is uplifting despite its subject matter. I would recommend this book to anyone whose life has been touched by cancer, or anyone looking for a positive life-affirming story.
A special thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of Sophie’s book for my review. You can buy it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.