Published 2005 / Length 343 pages
The Girls is a beautiful novel. Poignant and moving, it’s an emotional read that avoids sentimentality and never feels voyeuristic. Rose and Ruby Darlen are the oldest surviving craniopagus-conjoined twins in history. On approaching their thirtieth birthday, Rose – who has always wanted to be a writer – decides to pen her autobiography, which is where the novel begins and how it proceeds. Consequently, the main narrative is from Rose’s point of view, with short interludes supplied, rather begrudgingly, by Ruby, who can’t fathom why anyone would be interested in their life story. The sisters may share a body, but not a mind. They live surprisingly separate lives while, by necessity, sharing all their experiences: Rose is a sports fan and likes reading books; Ruby prefers trashy television programmes and studying local history. Above all, this book tells a story of unconditional love between two sisters, a tale that Lansens handles sensitively and compassionately.
‘This story is truly heart-warming, managing effortlessly to avoid slipping into mawkishness. In equal measures it made me laugh and cry, and introduced genuine surprises along the way.’ – DEAN, 35
• Why do you think Lansens decided to tell such a story? Is she successful in highlighting the differences in the sisters’ outlooks on their life together?
• Does knowing what’s to become of Ruby and Rose detract from or add to the experience of reading the novel?
• Is such subject matter difficult to convey without becoming cloying and voyeuristic? How does Lansens manage to avoid this?
• The book challenges our preconceptions of what is ‘normal’. Is this uncomfortable for the reader? Can it help to break down prejudice?
• Does this novel work? That is to say, does it read as an autobiography, or as a novel written about conjoined twins?
• Lansens lives in Toronto. She is a successful screenwriter. This is her second novel.
• In preparation for writing The Girls, Lansens carried out research through a wide selection of literature about conjoined twins.
• In 2006, the book was nominated for the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Marie Claire named it Book of the Month.
• Love in the Present Tense by CATHERINE RYAN HYDE – how can an older man teach a young boy about ‘forever love’?
• My Sister’s Keeper by JODI PICOULT – another story about unconditional love between two sisters; its narrative, however, explores what happens when one of them questions that bond.
• The True History of the Elephant Man by MICHAEL HOWELL and PETER FORD – the true story of Joseph Care Merrick, who suffered from Proteus syndrome, and his experiences in Victorian England.
• Half Life by SHELLEY JACKSON – conjoined twins Nora and Blanche Olney star in a story that is at once funny, fierce and haunting.