The Girls: A Novel

It started off really strong and I thought it would be great. In the middle though it hit a block and then drug on for the rest of the book. It was entirely too long it could have included some more information or been cut by about 100 pages. It is at the very least something different so I read on.

The writing was superb and it had a beautiful ending. I just became bored as both girls took turns writing about the important events and people in their lives. The narration wasn't even in chronological order which added to the "rambling" effect. I do appreciate Larsen's work; I loved Rush Home Road. This novel just didn't hold my attention though.

Such an unusual subject that is beautifully written. One becomes totally engrossed in the developement of the two personalities. Aunt Lovey was a brave woman who helped two girls become individuals.

I am not enjoying this book. Very poorly written. It is very disjointed and goes from one girl to the other and from one time period to another and then back again. Very confusing ! I am having trouble getting through this book and if it was not for book club, I would not finish it!

It was obvious from page one that the author based her story on Lori and Reba Schappell, real life craniopagus conjoined twins. One problem: the story of Lori & Reba is infinitely more uplifting and interesting than any novel that tackles this subject, this one included.

The whole book didn't seem to have a direction. The two seperate voices were disjointed from each other, and while I know I shouldn't be expecting a life-affirming message from the doomed twins, it would have been nice to have something to take away from reading "The Girls" other than thinking "That rather sucked. What should I read next?"

In what has to be the best blend of heartbreaking sadness and unbelievable joy, author Lori Lansens has managed to write a novel about two girls that you will not soon forget -- if ever. After I finished THE GIRLS, I felt many emotions, but the strongest was that I had just read the story of two of my best and dearest friends. And even though I know that this story is fiction, I can't help but think that somewhere, two girls share a life that is a lot like that of Rose and Ruby Darlen.

Rose and Ruby are twins, yes, but they are also so much more. They are craniopagus twins, born conjoined at the right side of the head. As Rose puts it, she's never looked into her sister's eyes, she's never bathed alone, and she's never taken a solo walk. But what Rose lacks in aloneness is made up for with the closeness that she shares with Ruby, her sister, best friend, confidant, and greatest admirer.

The Darlen sisters were born in the small town of Leaford on the same day that a tornado struck the town and scooped up a young boy named Larry Merkel, who was never seen again. On the day that their mother, a young, frightened woman who called herself Elizabeth Taylor, gave birth, she was attended to by a devoted nurse known as Lovey. When the girls' mother later disappeared a week after that fateful day, much as Larry Merkel had been blown into the wind, it was Lovey Darlen who chose the girls as her own -- or, rather, they chose each other.

As Rose and Ruby struggle to learn to live together and yet retain their own individuality, it is their Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash who provide the love, comfort, and stability that the girls need. Being a conjoined twin has both its benefits and detriments, as both girls learn from an early age. But with the love of their family and the help, support, and dedication of a wonderful cast of supporting characters, the Darlen girls make a name for themselves in Leaford.

THE GIRLS is written as an autobiography, started by Rose to tell the story of her life -- and, with it, the story of Ruby's life, as well. Interspersed with chapters written by Ruby herself, the story doesn't always unfold in chronological order. The things Rose deems important, of course, don't always coincide with what Ruby believes to be necessity.

I laughed while reading this novel, and many times I cried. I went through joy and sorrow, much as the characters did. This is the first story I've read in a very long time that moved me to feel what the characters felt, to feel, in the end, as if I knew them. I applaud Ms. Lansens for her wonderful writing skills, and, although I am sad to say goodbye to Rose and Ruby Darlen, I wish them the best that life has to offer.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

I loved this novel, written as the autobiography of Rose Darlen, a 29-year-old Canadian woman who was born in a small Ontario town (just across the border from Detroit) during a tornado, inoperably joined to the head of her twin, Ruby. Ruby writes some chapters, too. The girls' situation, as their adoptive mother Aunt Lovey terms it, is, indeed, rare and amazing and certainly very challenging. But not tragic. Not really. Rose and Ruby live lives that are, in many ways, full -- full of love and experiences and accomplishments. They have very distinct personalities and interests. Lansens' wonderfully written story made me think a lot about deformities and "situations" that seem almost impossible to contemplate. I found myself searching the internet for cases of conjoined twins, some of which were even stranger and harder to fathom than Rose and Ruby's situation. I felt sort of like a voyeur. But I couldn't help it. Rose and Ruby are characters who, I think, will stay with me. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them, and I was sad to let them go.

Lori Lansens has created a beautiful fictional autobiography with "The Girls" that continuously reminds the reader of all the wonderful things life can provide as we maneuver around the obstacles encountered during our journey.

"The Girls", the story of two sisters conjoined at the head as told by both girls (Rose and Ruby), draws the reader into an enchanting world in rural Canada and introduces us to their wonder and appreciation of life's daily activities. As Rose writes in one passage: "It was Aunt Lovey's belief that ordinary people led extraordinary lives, but didn't notice". "The Girls" is a story of very extraordinary people who live ordinary lives. The beauty in the story comes from these girls experiencing all the common emotions and tribulations that children and young adults experience, but from the view point of two characters that cherish these common experiences without taking anything for granted.

Lansens creates very memorable characters in Rose and Ruby, but to her credit, she never makes them victims of their deformity. Instead she creates two characters that the reader accepts without question and who have personalities and styles so different you forget they are conjoined (sometimes). Of course it is the conjoinment that creates the physical and mental bond between these girls that enhances the joy the girls experience during mundane daily events. Uncle Stash was by far my favorite character with his stubbornness, stoicism and love for the women in his life. Uncle Stash looms larger than life as a heroic figure in everything the girls write about him.

Some people have found this book slow in parts and I can not disagree. There is no major conflict (besides their daily difficulties as conjoined twins) that drives the story forward. The draw comes from the girl's voices and their life experiences. About 2/3's of the way through the book the uniqueness of the characters began to lose their luster slightly. It was only after I put the book down for about two weeks before picking it up again that I could enjoy it again until the finish.

Slow and meandering in parts, it is the freshness of the characters and writing that makes this book enjoyable. These characters will be remembered long after the pages have been shut.

I like many others fell in love with the characters in this novel. Of course, Ruby and Rose, with a friendship and kinship so deep many of us will never understand. Just like any other friends or sisters the characters are very different and the font and writing style reflects that of the conjoined girls. I found myself relating very much to Ruby the non-writer and my sister the introspective writer. I was also really impressed the way the author was able to have the girls switch roles as necessary.

I also fell in love with Aunt Lovey, who knew unconditional love so well and Uncle Stash and all his stories of Slovakia. Having visited Slovakia myself I found his stories very interesting. Those who read "The Girls" will keep the characters in your heart long after the pages are finished.

"The Girls," is a collection of stories about the lives and times of two conjoined twins. These stories are not in chronological order. They are memories of their relationships, their travels, their birth, and many other significant and not-so-significant moments of their lives. At many points in the story, the book is treated like a diary in which the sisters explain what is going on in their lives at the time the book being written. "The Girls," as they are known in their small Canadian town have been looked after by Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash for most of their lives. They are soon to be the oldest surviving craniopagus (conjoined at the head) twins, and Rose is planning on writing a book of their memoirs. Ruby, her sister, is writing several chapters herself, as it is her life too. The point of view switches from one twin to the other, and the blanks that each sister leaves out is, in most cases, explained by the other.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable book. I chose it because it seemed like an interesting idea- I had never before read anything in the perspective of conjoined twins. While this wasn't what I would call a "pageturner" (it took me about two weeks to read, as I had exams at the same time), it is extremely well-written. Lansens has the unique ability to create two completely different characters and weave their stories so well that it is not difficult to believe that these two individual women have spent every waking moment of their lives connected. During some points in Rose's recollections, she tends to go a bit too deep into detail and description at the cost of plot stability, but I interpreted this more as a reflection of Rose and her writing style. I was also able to relate very well to Rose and somewhat to Ruby, despite the extreme differences in our situations. It was a fascinating experience to be able to "meet" these to characters and get to know them, and then to read about what they thought of each other and what happened in their everyday lives that they chose to relate to the reader (or not). "The Girls," is a very educational book- I learned a lot about life and relationships, not to mention the world and customs of other people. After the collection of stories, the ending is very satifying. I felt that in the ending, Lansens captured a true moment of real lives.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
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Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations

Lyrical, poetic prose opens this heartwarming and unique story of conjoined twins Rose and Ruby and the lives they led, both separately as two individuals with different likes and dislikes and together as sisters who must rely on each other solely for their very existence. Joined at the head, `The Girls'--as they are known as in their small Ontario town--are raised by loving adoptive parents Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash, after their birth mother disappears shortly after giving birth. The conjoined twins are considered the pride of the town, not an oddity, and they rise above what most of us would think of as a handicap or disability and love each other unconditionally.

The Girls is a diary told in two voices--Rose's and Ruby's. Rose encourages her sister to contribute to what will become their life story and although she does most of the writing, both characters come to life as they observe the lives of everyone they meet, sharing their innermost thoughts, hopes, fears and dreams with the reader. I found myself so connected to Rose and Ruby that I didn't want their story to end, and when it did, I was left with a bittersweet ache for more.

The first paragraph reads like pure, sweet poetry that is sure to haunt any reader; it is what first grabbed me and pulled at my heart. The Girls opens like this:

"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. I've never used an airplane bathroom. Or worn a hat. Or been kissed like that...So many things I've never done, but oh, how I've been loved. And, if such things were to be, I'd live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially."

Lori Lansens is an extraordinary Canadian author who paints a picture of rural Ontario farm life and two distinct lives with a magic wand of effortlessness, vividly colorful description and heartfelt compassion. At times you'll forget you're reading a novel because it reads with such clarity and believability. In fact, this novel is so full of realism, you may find yourself flipping to the author's photograph at the back of the book to see if she is a conjoined twin. Instead, you'll find her sitting alone at one end of a sofa, as if waiting for someone to join her.

The Girls: A Novel is a MUST READ for anyone who enjoys an emotional tale of love, loss and the challenges of life. Other books of comparable emotional impact: The Lovely Bones: A Novel and Mothering Mother: A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
Author of Divine Intervention

This beautifully written and very powerful novel is the fictional autobiography of two conjoined twins, Rose and Ruby. It's a bit slow in parts, but the language is beautiful and the end is extremely moving. One of those endings that stays with you. I felt like I really got to know Rose and Ruby and it was hard to say goodbye to them when the book ended.

While the book is mostly narrated by Rose, at times Ruby takes over. The use of different typefaces for each is a clever device that makes it clear who is writing at any one time. Lansens makes skillful use of the intertwined narrative to tell opposite sides of a story or to advance the plot. Ruby is the chatty one and she blurts out parts of the story that Rose had been withholding, but (with hindsight) you can see that there were little clues about. Also, at times they differ on the way that they remember something happening, as people do.

Not a lot happens in the novel and I can understand the reviewers who complain that it was slow going. A large part is the back story of their adoptive parents and at times I wanted to move the action back to the twins. It's not one of those fast-paced books that you can't put down. However as it builds, it draws you in and you realise how much you care about Rose, Ruby, Uncle Stash, Aunt Lovey and all the other characters who people this book so richly. The last few chapters are very moving and the end had me in tears.

The Girls is a very good book that I will remember for a long time. It's the kind of book that has the power to change how you see the world a little bit - and that's a pretty powerful thing for a novel to achieve.

When my book group friend suggested we read this book "about conjoined twins," I thought, "YES!" I have always been intrigued with the mystery of conjoined twins, how it happens, how they go about their life, and just why can't they be separated? Thus, this book was ordered the day we chose it and quickly began once it arrived on my doorstep. But I didn't love it. While Lansens writes with a wonderful fluidity that makes me feel as though I am floating along for the ride, I was disappointed in the overall story of these girls, which is told from both sister's points-of-view in first-person narrative, each with a very distinct voice--which Lansens does quite well. I was hoping for more information about the girls, their condition, how others viewed them, etc. I really was a bit bored with Uncle Stash and the visit to____(???). It was some European country where the uncle is originally from. I wanted to know more about "the girls," because after all, that is what the title suggests. Sure, there were pages I had dog-eared thinking I wanted to remember something, or the passage was written especially well. But--well--in all honesty, I have sort of forgetten why it was so compelling.

This was definitely an enjoyable book for me. When I first started reading it, I wasn't sure what I was going to think about the book because something about Rose's voice, her story, didn't click with me. I think my initial problem was that she was telling SO many stories from their childhood when I really just wanted to get to know the two of them as they were in the present - how they lived their day to day lives as 29 year old conjoined twins. But once Ruby joined in, the story really started to pick up and go back and forth between their past and present, and I began to get involved with the characters and care about them. Once that happened, I fell in love with these two extraordinary women and their story. Lansens did such an amazing job writing their two voices so distinctly different from one another, and I actually came to enjoy one twin more than the other, which was kind of interesting. There weren't a lot of secondary characters in this novel (besides their "parents", Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash), but the ones that were there played an important part in the book and helped tie everything together.

I've been meaning to read this book for so long now, and I'm very glad that I finally got to it. I can't say it's the best book I've read or anything, but it is a very sweet and heartwarming story with wonderful characters as well. I would definitely recommend picking this one up.

An excellent story about conjoined twins & the happy,harrowing life they led.
They each think from time to time,what it might have been like to have been born norma!.
A wonderful story,that will make you laugh,cry & most of all think !

A unique perspective that the vast majority of us will never experience or truly understand. Humorous, sad, wise, and loving. One of those books where you mourn the last page. I wanted to hear ALL of the stories. What did Uncle Stash give Ruby? How is Rosie’s daughter? Well, we will never know. Thanks to the author for giving us a peek into the lives of these two amazing girls.

This is such an incredible book that I struggle to find appropriate words to do justice to the story. I hated to read the last pages, knowing it would end. It was moving, stunningly beautiful, lyrical, heart warming, heart wrenching, sad, joyous, but most of all, it was exquisitely written. Each chapter, page, sentence is a poem.

Rose and Ruby Darlen are co-joined twins, fused together by a large network of veins in their heads. They were born in a tiny Canadian town during a tornado. Shortly after arriving in the world, their mother abandons them. They are unconditionally loved and raised by the nurse who helped deliver them and her husband who provide stability and courage that enables them to dare to survive.

As they approach their 30th birthday, thereby making them the oldest living co-joined individuals, Rose and Ruby learn that a brain aneurysm can take their lives at any time. This sad fact is the impetus for Rose to write her autobiography. Ruby adds her story and while the voices are uniquely separate, analogous to the band that holds them physically and emotionally together, their individual perceptions intertwine.

Highly recommended.

Imagine writing a book with two characters that must inevitably share every experience, and yet giving each character a unique and vivid perspective. That is what Lansens has done with her novel of conjoined twins Ruby and Rose, the oldest surviving (they are approaching their 30th birthday) craniopagus (joined at the head) twins.

Lansens demonstrates that her twins have different perspectives on life by having them by joined such that they face at angles to each other (as Rose says, "I have never looked into my sister's eyes."), a neat literary trick. And of course they sometimes remember the same events differently as any two people, real or imagined, will. In some ways, Lansens ability to create two such different characters is not very remarkable, since most authors do it in every book. But we must return to the fact that Lansens' characters are not the same as any other two characters in a different book. And yet, they are. And it is Lansens ability to make them so normal, and so real, to her readers that is just a part of what makes this book so good.

When I started this novel, it was with concern. After all, it's a book about conjoined twins, written as their autobiography at the age of 29. The subject lends itself to the maudlin, and the format left me in some doubt. To my surprise, I was drawn into the story immediately, and I never lost interest straight through to the ending.

Ruby and Rose are joined at their heads, and their physical development has been quite dissimilar, despite their conjoined state. Ruby is small, and effectively rides on her sister Rose's hip. Ruby's interests are in the Native American artifacts found on their farm, and in observing the people around her. Rose's interests are much more wide-ranging, as are her ambitions. She wants to be a writer. At the age of 29, she sets out to write her own history, and Ruby is drawn reluctantly into participating--partly in competition, and partly because she loves her sister so completely that she can't disappoint her.

The twins were born during a tornado, immediately abandoned by their mother, raised by Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash on a farm outside a small town in Canada. Aunt Lovey is a nurse, Uncle Stash the farmer, and the girls both a medical wonder and the joy of their adoptive parents' lives.

It's a little bit Wizard of Oz mixed with The Bobbsey Twins, then seasoned with John Irving. Somehow, in spite of that, it works. Aunt Lovey is loving, but in an astringent way that makes her girls as big as they can be in the world. Uncle Stash is a doting father, but some of the things he showers on the girls are humorous--like their phallic-shaped bus shelter, lovingly made in all innocence. Rose sees all this in its fullness, and loves it for its mixture of the ordinary and the surreal.

One of the first things Rose tells us is that she and her sister have never looked in each other's eyes. Because of the way they are conjoined, they can only see each other in a mirror. Author Lansens doesn't belabor this image, but it is a central key to what makes this book more than a sappy story set in a familiar landscape. Almost everything that one wants to do conflicts with the other. Ruby doesn't like to think too much, and hates writing. Rose is not interested in archaeology but patiently hunts for and picks up the Native American artifacts that Ruby adores. They share so much physically, that it is almost a relief to learn that they are so different in personality, interests, talents, and outlook.

It is this balance that Lansens manages so well, almost to the astonishment of this reader. Despite all the traps of sentimentality, predictable plot lines, and syrupy characters that could have ambushed her, she delivers a story that is sentimental, surprising, and refreshing.

Armchair Interviews says: If you're looking for a tale well told, about characters you won't find in your ordinary life, this is a great bet.

If you suggested I read a fictional memoir, I might balk, thinking of James Frey and all the liberties he took in telling his "true" story.

But this one really is fiction, a memoir of two fictional lives, and it delivered everything I hope for when I pick up a book.

The writing is fluid and graceful and insightful, and often funny. The story, about conjoined twins Ruby and Rose, is unique. The structure--the alternating points of view--allows little glimpses into the rare parts of the girls' minds that they don't share with each other. The characters' insights--about how it feels to be stared at, how it feels when the other sister blushes--all resonate and reverberate with the ring of truth.

So often, after I finish a book, I'm done. I rarely think about the characters again. But with The Girls, I find myself not thinking only about Rose and Ruby, but the things that happened to them in their lives, their observations about the world and each other, even the objects and emotions they observe in passing.

This is a book that lingers. And that's the very best kind of book.

Just as a tornado carried Dorothy to the strange world of Oz, a tornado brought the Girls to ours.

Rose and Ruby Darlen of Baldoon County were born joined at the head on the day of the tornado, July 30, 1974, at St. Jude's Hospital, Leaford. They are one of the rarest forms of conjoined twins -- craniopagus. They share an essential vein and can never be separated.

Rose is bookish, follows sports, has wanted to write her autobiography since age 14 and has never been kissed. She has normal legs but a short torso and long arms, perfect for carrying her sister. Her face is misshapen where it is pulled by the conjoinment.

Ruby is outspoken, likes to watch television and is an amateur archeologist. Her upper body is normal but her legs are useless. She has a beautiful face.

They are different in appearance, personality and even health. Rose has eczema; Ruby suffers from car sickness.

Yet the vein that binds them is more than just a way to share blood. It is stronger than the tie of sisterhood, more enduring than friendship, more real than their conjoinment.

Both girls must face a seemingly insurmountable climb. They are forced to overcome not only all the trials of a life but all the trials of two lives forever entwined. They share each other's burdens every moment of every day.

The Girls invite us into their lives. Rose writes the bulk of their story using an autobiographical tone. Ruby contributes an occasional chapter, more at the end than the beginning. Her entries are like a letter to a friend.

By the close of their whirlwind tale, we have come to know Rose and Ruby Darlen as well as we know our closest friends. We are deeply touched, perhaps even enriched, for the experience.

The Girls is surprisingly good. Its premise is heart-rending, its prose flawless and its characterization spot on. Rose and Ruby live and breath. They step out of the novel and into our lives.

I can't recommend "The Girls" highly enough! It is a rare find, just like the twins whose story it told. The novel is beautifully and skillfully written, has a wonderful cast of well-developed complex characters that practically jump off the page, and a story that will touch you in a way that you'll never forget. I had to keep reminding myself that this remarkable story of Rose and Ruby Darlen, the oldest living craniopagus twins (conjoined at the head) was indeed fiction as opposed to a memoir, as it is so incredibly life-like.

The story, written as an autobiography, transports you to Rose and Ruby's Canadian farmhouse and moves between light-hearted humorous incidents to serious, highly-emotional ones...you are likely to both laugh and cry, and will defintiely be touched by their story.

This would make a fantastic book club choice and I recommend it highly for pretty much everyone. Lori Lansens is a phenomenal writer and I look forward to reading more of her works!

I definitely have mixed feelings about this book. First of all, I found the idea ingenius. To write about conjoined twins who decide to write about their life is so interesting to me! Ruby and Rose are craniopagus conjoined twins that are born in Canada during a tornado. The mother doesn't want to keep them so a nurse from the hospital, Nurse Darlen aka Aunt Lovey, adopts them with her husband Stash. The author did an excellent job describing the twins thoughts, feelings and physical characteristics. They almost seem real to me. The setting was unique. I have not read many books that take place in Canada and I enjoyed this. The story line was compelling and kept my attention. The biggest disappointment was the ending. I was expecting more of a climax, a more dramatic ending. The ending was distinctive but I felt unsettled when I finally closed the book. I am really glad I read this and I do recommend, it just didn't end the way I expected it to.

Rose and Ruby Darlen are conjoined twins about to reach their 30th birthday, a milestone. They were born in 1974 in Leaford, a small town in Canada during a rare tornado. Their birth mother abandoned them but a nurse named Lovey Darlen rescued them. She convinced her husband Stash to adopt the girls. Fast forward to the present, Rose has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm that will soon kill them. Rose is determined to write her autobiography with her sister's help. Rose and Ruby share their feelings on what it is like to be them, important events, and the people who impacted their lives. Since they are writing their own individual chapters for the book, there is an intermingled timeline of events, zigzagging between the past and present. Their unique personalities become clearer as their story unfolds. Extraordinary prose allows you to feel what they feel trying to live normal lives.

There are several chapters in "The Girls" that have become some of my favorite pieces of literature: the shockingly honest recount of Ruby writing about her sister wanting to give up her whole life altogether, then passing it off as a mere joke; Rose Darlen talking about who she imagined herself to be once Nick finally caved in and gave her a kiss.

This novel is not a feel-good piece but a depressing recount of two lives having lived conjoined together. We all wish we could look back on our own experiences with such a poetic nature. But then, that is why this is fiction and we live in reality. And Lori Lansens has a knack for her craft that is far more superior than most. You'd never even know you were reading two individual stories side-by-side, told by the same person. Each twin recalls the story of their lives with such different rhythms and paces, you'd have sworn it was two different people telling it!

The interesting nature of how everything unfolds makes the reader feel a bit like the crows in Baldoon County, skulking around and watching these young girls turn into imaginative women. I feel sad that it ended so abruptly, but cannot wait to share it with others. This is definitely a novel to repeat again and again.

Having greatly enjoyed Lansens' debut novel, "Rush Home Road," I was immediately interested in this one -- particularly given the ununsual storyline. Protagonists Rose and Ruby Darlen are 29-year-old conjoined twins, born during a freak tornado and soon after abandoned by their unwed teenage mother. Lovey Darlen, the nurse who tends to the twins, immediately decides to take them home herself, and the girls are raised lovingly by her and her husband Stash.

At the time of the book's writing, the twins are soon approaching their thirtieth birthday -- which would make them the world's oldest surviving craniopagus twins. Unfortunately, they are also suffering from a brain aneurysm, which can burst at any moment. While it's technically in Rose's brain, their heads are joined, so it would also kill Ruby.

Thus Rose's idea of writing a book to preserve their story is born, with Ruby grudgingly agreeing to include a few chapters from her point of view.

The sisters discuss their comfortable adult life, working in the town library after the deaths of Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash, as well as their upbringing in a tiny Canadian town where they grew up haunted by the death of a four-year-old boy who would've been their neighbor.

As might be expected, given the subject matter, "The Girls" is something of a depressing book. Still, the flashbacks provide readers with glimpses of an extraordinary life, a glimpse into a sisterhood that many, if not most, could never even imagine.

Lori Lansens has written several films and is the author of the novel Rush Home Road. This is her second book. She lives in Toronto.

What a fascinating book! It was heart-rending, heart-warming, wonderful, painful, compelling... all these things and more. I loved this book, and ripped through it at top speed, which is unusual for me. I loved it and felt that I knew these twins. Each had their own personalities and body shape, hopes and dreams. I fell in love with Uncle Stash and Aunt Lovey, who raised them with love and hope. I am so very sad that I am finished reading this book, however the characters will remain in my heart for a long time to come. This was most likely my best read for the year, and in a year of excellent books that is quite saying something!

This is a special book about an extremely unusual medical condition that few people experience. Conjoined twins has always been an engrossing anomaly that captures our attention and breaks our hearts. The day-to-day logistics and the thought of never being alone, even in death, are beyond comprehension. I think that Lansens did a masterful job of portraying conjoinment in this sensitive and very well written accounting of the lives of Rose and Ruby. There was no sensationalism, no pruient details - but a poignancy that developed through our knowledge of their world and those who loved them. There is a grace to the writing that is consistent until the end, and I am very grateful for talented authors like Lori Lansens. I look forward to reading her books in the future.

This is the strangest of devices for a modern novel as it would seem that conjoined twins are extremely rare and you would be unlikely to ever come across them. However in this book they are definitely here and expecting to live their lives as well as they can. The nurse who adopts them after their traumatic arrival in a tornado is clearly a saint in human form. She is quite literally amazing. The acceptance, love and encouragement she gives the girls is humbling. To me this was the most impressive mother love story I have ever read. Their father too, with all his human failings, is shown to be the best of men. However throughout the book you are uncomfortable in the knowledge that for Ruby and Rose, their lot is a tough one. They are remarkable people who go the whole way to the ends of their lives with courage and humanity. It is a gripping tale and you certainly want to see it through with them. Lingering in the mind long after finishing the book, the lessons you learn about life with such a disability are real and strong. The everyday challenge of facing the world as they were and the way in which other people in their community show their reactions, surprising as they can be, is inspirational. I can't imagine how this story got into the mind of the writer but she has made an extremely good job of explaining the situation. A memorable and important read, well worth the discomfort you feel as you keep remembering that these two wonderful girls can never be separated.

Missing presumed dead, the young Larry Merkel was reportedly the first causality of the giant tornado that touched down one afternoon in the small town of Leaford in Southern Ontario. The citizens also blamed the sudden death of Dr. Ruttle on the storm, the stress from the tornado purportedly inducing his massive heart attack.

Even more bizarre is the precipitous arrival of Ruby and Rose Darlen - the world's longest surviving conjoined craniopagus twins - born on that fateful day in 1974. With their mother allegedly dying alone in Toronto of sepsis eight weeks postpartum, the twins were adopted by a kindly overweight nurse who was present at the birth, and one of the only people who didn't freak out at the sight of them.

Almost at once, Aunt Lovey falls in love with these fragile and delicate young girls and together with her Canadian Slovakian husband, raises them on their bucolic and isolated farm, trying to give them as normal lives as possible. As they grow older, the girls are determined not to let their situation get the better of them, and are reasonably accepted by the townsfolk of Leaford.

Rose and Ruby are taught to be independent and they pour themselves into school and helping out around the farm. As adults, they obtain employment at the local library, shelving books and reading to school groups. Rose discovers she has a talent for writing - a straight A student she embarks on a novel about her life and is told by Aunt Lovey to write her story fearlessly, "not just as a conjoined twin but as a human being and as a woman."

Ruby develops an interest in local Indian archeology, a rather mediocre student she enjoys American sitcoms, but is plagued by chronic gastrointestinal troubles and, at times, severely restricts Rose, especially when she gets sick. The drama unfolds as the two girls race against time to complete their story: Aunt Lovey tells them that in adulthood, the tangled veins in their heads would likely give them trouble. And now at twenty-nine, and constantly plagued by headaches, an aneurysm in Rose's brain is threatening to kill them both.

Rose's intellectual diligence eventually pays off. The book is being written and with the odd passage or two from Ruby, the true natures of these amazing girls come to life. It's an existence that is habitually fraught with heartache and longing, and with lives that have been at times isolated and strange, but it's also a life that is full of love, travel, work, and even sex.

Obviously author Lori Lansens has great empathy for her characters and she has evidently well researched the lives of craniopagus twins. Full of ardor and purpose, the author's appeal for understanding and for public awareness is both trenchant and incisive. Bit by bit she steadily reveals Rose and Ruby's inner world, shedding back the layers and exposing all their hopes and dreams, fears and insecurities.

Rose especially learns the hard lesson that life isn't always fair and even less for a girl that is attached to her sister. The more fully formed and for the most part the healthier of the two; Rose often threatens to sink under the weight of wonder and the weight of worry, "humming some secret place into being." And the passages where she ponders what it might be like to be her own woman, this other girl only she can see, are some of the most intensely evocative of the novel.

Although these girls deeply love each other - and are connected with an energy that is not only physical but also acutely spiritual - there's a real sense of longing for what it might have been like to live a life separate, where there's "a girl called She, who is not We, the girl who sadly Rose or Ruby will never be."

Lansens has written a deeply emotional novel, her heroines may be physically flawed, but in the end they are able to transcend the strictures of their bodies, ultimately emboldened by the creation of a very unique and exceptional life together. Mike Leonard June 06.

Missing presumed dead, the young Larry Merkel was reportedly the first causality of the giant tornado that touched down one afternoon in the small town of Leaford in Southern Ontario. The citizens also blamed the sudden death of Dr. Ruttle on the storm, the stress from the tornado purportedly inducing his massive heart attack.

Even more bizarre is the precipitous arrival of Ruby and Rose Darlen - the world's longest surviving conjoined craniopagus twins - born on that fateful day in 1974. With their mother allegedly dying alone in Toronto of sepsis eight weeks postpartum, the twins were adopted by a kindly overweight nurse who was present at the birth, and one of the only people who didn't freak out at the sight of them.

Almost at once, Aunt Lovey falls in love with these fragile and delicate young girls and together with her Canadian Slovakian husband, raises them on their bucolic and isolated farm, trying to give them as normal lives as possible. As they grow older, the girls are determined not to let their situation get the better of them, and are reasonably accepted by the townsfolk of Leaford.

Rose and Ruby are taught to be independent and they pour themselves into school and helping out around the farm. As adults, they obtain employment at the local library, shelving books and reading to school groups. Rose discovers she has a talent for writing - a straight A student she embarks on a novel about her life and is told by Aunt Lovey to write her story fearlessly, "not just as a conjoined twin but as a human being and as a woman."

Ruby develops an interest in local Indian archeology, a rather mediocre student she enjoys American sitcoms, but is plagued by chronic gastrointestinal troubles and, at times, severely restricts Rose, especially when she gets sick. The drama unfolds as the two girls race against time to complete their story: Aunt Lovey tells them that in adulthood, the tangled veins in their heads would likely give them trouble. And now at twenty-nine, and constantly plagued by headaches, an aneurysm in Rose's brain is threatening to kill them both.

Rose's intellectual diligence eventually pays off. The book is being written and with the odd passage or two from Ruby, the true natures of these amazing girls come to life. It's an existence that is habitually fraught with heartache and longing, and with lives that have been at times isolated and strange, but it's also a life that is full of love, travel, work, and even sex.

Obviously author Lori Lansens has great empathy for her characters and she has evidently well researched the lives of craniopagus twins. Full of ardor and purpose, the author's appeal for understanding and for public awareness is both trenchant and incisive. Bit by bit she steadily reveals Rose and Ruby's inner world, shedding back the layers and exposing all their hopes and dreams, fears and insecurities.

Rose especially learns the hard lesson that life isn't always fair and even less for a girl that is attached to her sister. The more fully formed and for the most part the healthier of the two; Rose often threatens to sink under the weight of wonder and the weight of worry, "humming some secret place into being." And the passages where she ponders what it might be like to be her own woman, this other girl only she can see, are some of the most intensely evocative of the novel.

Although these girls deeply love each other - and are connected with an energy that is not only physical but also acutely spiritual - there's a real sense of longing for what it might have been like to live a life separate, where there's "a girl called She, who is not We, the girl who sadly Rose or Ruby will never be."

Lansens has written a deeply emotional novel, her heroines may be physically flawed, but in the end they are able to transcend the strictures of their bodies, ultimately emboldened by the creation of a very unique and exceptional life together. Mike Leonard June 06.

Rose and Ruby are the oldest surviving craniopagus twins, tied together by a vital vein in their heads. As their thirtieth birthdays approach, Rose sets out to write her memoir, asking Ruby to contribute chapters. As you read this mesmerizing life history, you'll have to stop to remind yourself that this is fiction, that you aren't reading a true tale of sisterhood and found families.

Rose writes, "So many things I've never done, but oh, how I've been loved. And, if such things were to be, I'd live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially." The sisters are blessings and curses to one another. When they were born, their unwed mother was so shocked by what appeared from her body that she fled the hospital, abandoning them in the care of their nurse, who raised them as her own. Doctors suggested that Ruby, the smaller, parasitic twin with clubfeet, be sacrificed for the health of Rose. When Aunt Lovey refused to do so, the family was forsaken by their church. Rose has carried Ruby around their entire life. If one consumes alcohol, the other feels its effects. Each has different dietary desires, but if one gets ill, the other will suffer the restrictions of being sick, too.

As adults, Rose and Ruby have made a life for themselves working at the town library. They each have separate jobs, but are co-located on one another's shifts. When Rose needs a mental health day, Ruby has to miss her shift, too. Ruby enjoys working with children and answering their questions about her lifestyle and medical history.

The memoir is created by Rose, who fancies herself the intellectually superior twin. She has to push Ruby (the prettier twin) to contribute chapters, and she constantly worries that Ruby is just rambling and repeating herself, not creating a narrative. Lansen presents each sister's chapters in different fonts, and their voices are distinctive. Certainly Rose is a superior memoirist in a traditional sense, but Ruby brings an essential perspective about their relationship and the anecdotes Rose considered unworthy of mention. Certain tales are told from both (contrasting) perspectives.

The Girls is a beautiful book about sisterhood, friendship, and family ties, set in a non-traditional family. Fans of this book will enjoy Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

This somewhat mundane story is beautifully written, and even though it isn't thrilling or even very exciting, it captured my heart from the very first page. I am impressed with Lori Lasens' writing and will most certainly be trying out more of her books.

In Leaford, Ontario, their teenage mother abandoned the conjoined twins when they were two weeks old. Instead a nurse Aunt Lovey and her spouse Stash adopted and raised them as if Ruby and Rose Darlen were not connected at the head. Rose has the fully developed normal body but a distorted face pulled out of shape towards Ruby's pretty normal face. Ruby's legs never developed so Rose does the walking for both of them. As Lovey intended when she showered them witth love and nurturing as two people, they have differing personalities and even separate jobs at the library.

Nearing their thirtieth birthday, Rose starts writing her autobiography while persuading Ruby to do likewise. Rose tells much of their past starting with the birth during a tornado, the abandonment, and the loving nurturing of Lovey and Stash. Ruby provides some tidbits that she is not just a pretty face as her sibling insists with an Indian artifact collection as her proof. However, neither wants to explain how they are dying from a tumor though Ruby tries nor how Rose became pregnant (gave up the child for adoption) with a boy who kissed Ruby while deflowering her. This is the story of two sisters who have never looked into each other's eyes.

THE GIRLS is a terrific character study that looks deep into the relationship between sisters. The key to the tale is that Lori Lansens avoids turning the conjoined twins into melodramatic caricatures; instead they have distinct personalities and even rivalries as each lives a relatively normal lifestyle making them seem real and their relationship plausible. The support cast especially their adoptive parents add to the depth of two siblings living normal separate lives though facially tied together.

Harriet Klausner

From the first pages of the book the author draws the reader in. I have twin sisters (not conjoined mind you) and the subject appealed to me. Having grown up with twin sisters I saw how often they were treated as one entity "the twins" instead of two seperate people with seperate personalities, tastes and preferences.
I am so impressed with Ms Lansens' ability to create two distinctive voices with both Ruby and Rose.
I found myself reading less and less towards the end of the book because I did not want it to be over. I did not want to leave the world the author had so beautifully constructed within the pages of this book.
I will be seeking out more books by Lori Lansens.

Rose and Ruby are two different 'girls,' one with an interest in local Indian history, the other with an interest in creative writing. They happen to be twin sisters, joined forever at the head. This book alternates their perspectives on their lives, from their remarkable birth during a tornado and their subsequent adoption by a marvelous older couple, to the birth of another important child, to the health issues that threaten one life (and therefore two). The people in this well-written novel have stayed in my heart, even though I finished the book weeks ago. This book is a love story on many levels--love between the sisters, love between their parents, and love of life. Minor characters, such as a woman who lost a child during the same tornado that brought the birth of the girls, are also very real. I super-strongly recommend this book!

A very unusual concept for a book, this book contains the fictional autobiographies of twins conjoined at the head. Ruby is more practical and down-to-earth and Rose is the creative, somewhat dreamy writer. The girls are raised on a farm in Canada by the nurse who helped their long-gone mother through labor and birth. They are raised with "normal" lives, going to public school and eventually holding jobs at the town library. Only the unnecessary trip to Slovakia with their foster parents marred an otherwise great story. The last few chapters are understandably sentimental and melancholy. All in all, a very satisfying and fast read.

The reviews make it seem better than it actually is. The only hook in the story is that they are conjoined twins and they each recount their lives. It was so slow. I kept reading because I had an idea in my mind that the ending would make it all worth it. But the plot is still stagnant. I didn't appreciate how the author portrayed Slovakia as if any country outside the US and Canada is underdeveloped and full of superstitious people.
That being said, the book isn't terrible. I can register the characters on my mind as real living people who are just ordinary, which is what the author intended so that's good. The book allowed me to put myself in a situation I had not considered, which is nice.

Would I recommend to a friend? Probably not to be honest.

I can't believe anybody gave this book a negative review---it was beautifully written and a beautiful story----i'm a voracious reader(over 2,000 novels) and clearly this is one of the finest i've ever read---kudos to lori lansens on a masterpiece---i know everyone has their own opinion and i respect that

I absolutely loved Rush Home Road, Lori Lansens' first book so I was looking forward to her second novel. This one didn't quite grab me as well as Rush Home Road did, but it is a great book nonetheless. Lansens has done an excellent job of turning these unlikely characters into very believable human beings. It is quite amazing, really. Like Rush Home Road, this book is also extremely well written.

Most of the book is written from the perspective of one of the twins, Rose, while some chapters are narrated by her sister Ruby. The story follows their lives from birth through childhood an into early adulthood. Despite their different personalities and interests they are forced to share a life and the challenges that arise from their physical attachment.

One correction: the Publisher's Weekly summary above states that the book is set in a town "just outside" Toronto. It is actually set near Chatham, Ontario, which is about 3 hours west of Toronto, closer to Detroit, Michigan. I am from Chatham so I am familiar with most of the places in the book - all of which are real except for the fictional town of Leaford, where most of the story is set. It is quite amazing to read a good novel set in an area that is so familiar to me.

If you like strong characters and good writing then you should defintely read this book!