Half Life

First edition cover
Author	Shelley Jackson
Cover artist	Jacket design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Novel, alternate history
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	July 25, 2006
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	440 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN	978-0-06-088235-8 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC	63165002
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 22
LC Class	PS3560.A2448 H35 2006

Half Life is the 2006 debut novel of American writer and artist Shelley Jackson. The novel presupposes an alternate history in which the atomic bomb resulted in a genetic preponderance of conjoined twins, who eventually become a minority subculture.

Overview

The book tells the story of a disenchanted conjoined twin named Nora Olney who plots to have her twin murdered.

Reception

Half Life received mixed-to-positive reviews; Newsweek called it "brilliant and funny,"^[1] and The New York Times, while praising Jackson's ambition as "truly glorious," added that "All this razzle-dazzle, all the allusions, [and] the narrative loop-de-loops [get] a bit busy."^[2] It won the 2006 James Tiptree, Jr. Award for science fiction and fantasy.