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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Lori M. Jones’s Crossmatch follows Claire Chamberlain, a forty-three-year-old mother of twins whose cycling accident reveals that she was born with one kidney and it is failing from polycystic kidney disease. Dialysis is coming, and Claire’s O-positive blood type makes finding a living donor difficult. Her daughter starts an online campaign, while Claire returns to the road where she crashed and finds Crossroads Church between two oak trees, exactly where a mysterious bearded man told her to look. There she reconnects with Pastor Gabe Hamlin, an old high school classmate who becomes a source of support as her illness changes the way Claire sees her marriage to Carl. With her life depending on a successful crossmatch, Claire searches for a donor while the unanswered details of her crash keep pulling her back to Crossroads.
Lori M. Jones’s Crossmatch is first-rate women’s fiction, written with the belief that human fellowship can speak powerfully during illness. Jones makes Claire's kidney failure visceral in her daily life. At the dialysis center, Claire names her machine Edward. Her friendship with Edith gains meaning through Edith’s devotion to Oscar, which shows Claire the value of faithful support. Claire’s humor remains present as kidney failure changes what her body can do, giving her presence a spirit of hope. The tandem-bike ride has a grace to it—Claire is too weak to cycle alone, so Gabe puts her back on two wheels while doing most of the pedaling. Jones makes the ride feel like a piece of Claire returning, making a simple act speak to restoration. Crossmatch speaks with warmth to readers drawn to women’s fiction with a medical storyline. This is a book I recommend wholeheartedly.
