The Girls, By Lori Lansens

“In twenty-nine years, Rose Darlen has never spent a moment apart from her twin sister Ruby. She has never gone for a solitary walk or had a private conversation. Yet, in all that time, she has never once looked into Ruby’s eyes. Joined at the head, ‘The Girls’ (as they are known in their small town) attempt to lead a normal life, but can’t help being extraordinary. Now almost thirty, Rose and Ruby are on the verge of becoming the oldest living craniopagus twins in history, but they are remarkable for a lot more than their unusual sisterly bond.”

The author Lori Lansens was born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, a small Canadian town with a remarkable history as a terminus on the Underground Railroad, which became the setting for her first three bestselling novels. The Girls is the screenwriter and novelist’s second novel, published in 2005.

Narrated by the twins themselves, Rose and Ruby Darlen are history’s longest-living craniopagus, conjoined twins. Written as a fictional autobiography, Lansens uses this narrative structure to emphasise the individual identity of both Rose and Ruby, despite their conjoinment at the head by a spot the size of a bread plate. According to the description of the condition at the start of the book, the girls are estimated to share 100 veins as well as skull bones. However, while their cerebral tissues are meshed, they have distinctly separate brains and so have different personalities.

Rose, the budding writer, physically carries her weaker and smaller sister Ruby, the beautiful one, as she calls her, on her right hip. Yet despite the physical pain and suffering, the love the sisters share is endless and forgiving, which is the real beauty. The opening lines of the first chapter by Rose entitled, Ruby & Me, are “I have never looked into my sister’s eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never stood in the grass at night and raised my arms to a beguiling moon.” 

Reading this made me realise how much we all take for granted and how much of our lives we waste moaning or wishing for something else. Their adopted mother, Aunt Lovey tells them, “You’re lucky to be you … You girls are remarkable. Most people can’t say that.”

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.

I laughed at certain points reading this novel and cried at others. A most poignant read; a must in my opinion, given its underlying message of truth.

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