Between Two Kingdoms

Suleika’s parents make her see a therapist, who tells Suleika to find a hobby. They settle on a 100-day project in which she, her family, and Will work on a creative project for 100 days in a row. Will decides to send Suleika videos of his life in the city. Anne paints a ceramic tile each morning, which she assembles into a mosaic in Suleika’s room. Hédi drafts 101 childhood memories and makes them into a book that he gives to Suleika for Christmas. Suleika decides she will journal each day.

She writes about her experience with leukemia. She finds other artists like Frida Kahlo who created through illness. The words she writes help her find herself. Through the project, she begins, she says, to “reimagine [her] survival as a creative act” (109).

Her brother, Adam, is studying abroad in Argentina when Suleika receives the diagnosis of leukemia. He undergoes tests to assess if he might be a match for a bone marrow transplant. Adam is a perfect match, and soon everyone in the family begins to depend on him for support. Adam struggles to keep up with school and medical appointments. He begins taking anxiety medication.