The Girls
Lori Lansens Virago, 345pp, £11.99
ISBN 1844083659
Sisters are often close, but no others can be quite as close as Rose and Ruby Darlen. They are conjoined twins, fused at the head, their "vascular systems snarled like briar bushes". They live with their adopted parents, a retired nurse and her Slovak husband, in a small Canadian town, where they lead a relatively normal life. At 29 they are the world's oldest surviving craniopagus twins, and Rose, who has literary ambitions, is keen to record their story while they have time.
Alternating between the women's voices, Lori Lansens's novel successfully captures something of what it must be to live simultaneously as a "me" and a "we", where even the most intimate acts must be conducted with one's sister at one's side and solitude is an impossibility. She resists the urge to wallow in depictions of the physical aspect of their situation, and instead deftly establishes their distinct personalities. Though Rose is the more contemplative, her straight-talking sister is frequently the more perceptive; events that deeply affect Rose barely faze Ruby.
Lansens occasionally veers into sentimentality, but this is an immensely readable novel, compelling and convincing. The Girls is an enchanting blend of the extraordinary and the everyday.
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