Meet Rose and Ruby: sisters, best friends, confidantes, and conjoined twins. Since their birth, Rose and Ruby Darlen have been known simply as "the girls." They make friends, fall in love, have jobs, love their parents, and follow their dreams. But the Darlens are special. Now nearing their 30th birthday, they are history's oldest craniopagus twins, joined at the head by as pot the size of a bread plate. When Rose, the bookish sister, sets out to write her autobiography, it inevitably becomes the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby, the beautiful one. From their awkward first steps -- Ruby's arm curled around Rose's neck, her foreshortened legs wrapped around Rose's hips -- to the friendships they gradually build for themselves in the small town of Leaford, this is the profoundly affecting chronicle of an incomparable life journey. As Rose and Ruby's story builds to an unforgettable conclusion, Lansens aims at the heart of human experience -- the hardship of loss and struggles for independence, and the fundamental joy of simply living a life. This is a breathtaking novel, one that no reader will soon forget, a heartrending story of love between sisters.
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"I was fascinated by this book. The premise is cojoined twin sisters and how they are clearly dependant but also independant thinkers. Warning--I am an engineer and I read things very literal. But even I get the metaphors in this book. OK, probably not all of them. " — Pam (4 out of 5 stars)
"I was fascinated by this book. The premise is cojoined twin sisters and how they are clearly dependant but also independant thinkers. Warning--I am an engineer and I read things very literal. But even I get the metaphors in this book. OK, probably not all of them. "
“It is the true test of a writer's mettle to create a convincing narrator, and Lori Lansens has done it not once but twice in her remarkable novel about conjoined twins. The two fascinating protagonists of The Girls live their lives together in every way, and yet nevertheless emerge with beliefs and desires all their own, and with distinct outlooks on their difficult circumstances. We are all fortunate for a novelist with so delicate and sensitive a touch.”
“The Girls is so deeply imagined, so vivid and fresh, by turns funny, by turns astonishing, by turns sad. What wonderful writing!”
“The Girls glides by like a watercolor dream, finding its poetry in dailiness and the universalities of human desire and connection…Lansens, who has a gentle, open way of writing, makes of these two girls a kind of perfect marriage, harmonious and everlasting.”
“A fascinating—and at times heartbreaking—read about two independent young women.”
“Lansens captures the claustrophobia of conjoinment…But her real triumph is the strange story’s rich context: a Canadian farming community where we encounter the full spectrum of human frailty. And Lansens gives her narrators intelligence, moments of transcendent joy, and romance. There’s much for these girls to smile about.”
" Canadian lit at its best. A fictitious autobiography of two craniopagus conjoined twins written in two distinct voices, poignant, comic and very humane. Great storytelling. "
" It was very well written, wonderful concept to discuss how we are individuals and so connected, literally, in many ways and how we deal with that.... "
" Have you ever wondered what life would be like as conjoined twins? I hadn't really either but Lori Lansens did a great job of creating a beautiful story about these sisters. I am adding the books she listed in her research to my to-read list. Fascinating subject! "
" Great characters, explores an interesting relationship between sisters. "
" Very well written. Not sentimental about the subject of conjoined girls. Poignant. "
" I enjoyed this book because it has such an unusual narrator. I thought the way the twins were portrayed as so different in personality was a little too simplistic, but it was still an interesting story. "
" Where did this treasure come from. Amazingly done. "
" Loved this book. I already miss Rose and Ruby. "
" I fell in love with both of the sisters and thought the story was remarkable. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a work of fiction. I recommend it to everyone! "
" Pretty good book. You get to really like Rose and Ruby (the girls). "
" The fictional autobiography of conjoined twin women awaiting their inevitable death. Interesting, but a little odd and some parts are hard to swallow. 2.5 stars. "
" Not at all what I expected. I loved the relationship The Girls shared. "
Lori Lansens has written several films and is the author of the bestselling novel The Girls, among other books. She lives in California with her family.
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) wrote and edited more than 120 books and more than 1,700 stories, essays, and articles, as well as dozens of screenplays and teleplays. He won the Hugo award nine times, the Nebula award three times, the Bram Stoker award six times (including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996), the Edgar Allan Poe Award of the Mystery Writers of America twice, the Georges Méliès Fantasy Film Award twice, and was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism by PEN, the international writer’s union. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2006.
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