Jesse is 15. She loves her friends, her little brother and her parents – even when they’re arguing, which feels like constantly these days. But most of all, she loves playing video games. Even from her hospital bed.

Alex is 29. He doesn’t love a lot of things. To be honest, he’s not really sure he knows how to. His desk at work, as VR games designer, is empty, much like his life feels sometimes.

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Then Jesse makes a wish. A simple one: a video experience made of her life, something to be there, just in case she isn’t.

One loving teenager.
One lonely adult.

Which one will get the happy ending?

My Review

In 2004, when my younger son was in sixth form, 15-year-old Laura E. was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. More than 400 people turned out to give blood samples to The Anthony Nolan Trust one Thursday night in a bid to save her life, even many who didn’t know her. She needed a bone marrow transplant.

I remember sitting with my sister-in-law crying as we read of the failed transplants, and how she chose to let go. It was one of the bravest and saddest things I’ve ever read.

A lot of books make me cry, but this one had me in tears for much of it. Maybe it was because of the memory of that brave girl, or I would have done so anyway, but The Wish handles it so sensitively. It never shies away from the feelings of anger as well sorrow.

Poor Jesse. In hospital for months at a time, she needs a bone marrow transplant. The one from little brother Sam didn’t work. Her mother is naturally devastated, but her father is in denial and gets cross with everyone. Especially Alex. Jesse’s wish is to make a video experience of her life for those left behind if she doesn’t make it. Her father can’t accept that it’s a possibility and virtually throws Alex out. How can they convince him that it’s what Jesse wants?

Jesse’s friends at the hospital are brilliantly written characters. Mouthy Amy, and cheeky boys Luke and Ryan, who try to help in the most unusual ways. And then there is Alex. He could never have imagined what was really being asked of him or how emotionally involved he would become.

The Wish is a masterpiece and everyone should read it. It throws everything into perspective.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Born in New Zealand, Heather Morris is passionate about stories of survival, resilience and hope. In 2003, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Lale’s story formed the basis for The Tattooist of Auschwitz and the follow-up novel, Cilka’s Journey.

In 2021 she published the phenomenal conclusion to the Tattooist trilogy, Three Sisters, after being asked to tell the story of three Holocaust survivors who knew Lale from their time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Together, her novels have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. Sisters Under the Rising Sun, a heart-wrenching novel based upon the experiences of women in Japanese POW camps, was published in 2023 to great acclaim.

Heather’s first contemporary novel, The Wish, is published in September 2025.