Product Description

This is the astonishing tale of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins whose silent, antisocial exterior hid a rich, vast, creative life. From early childhood through their twenties, they spoke only to each other in a secret langauge, building an elaborate fantasy life. Then, from their self-imposed isolation, they were catapulted into the hormonal havoc of adolescence, plunging into a wild spree that led to their incarceration in a hospital for the criminally insane. A profoundly powerful and moving story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #840982 in Books
• Published on: 1987-10-12
• Released on: 1987-10-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback

From Library Journal
This true story focuses on the young adult years of identical twin girls. June and Jennifer isolate themselves from family and society, sinking into a world of interdependency, fantasy, and obsessive game-playing, until an arson spree lands them in a hospital for the criminally insane. The fascination of this tale lies in the discrepancy between the twins' silent, emotionless facade and the rich creativity and passion that spills out endlessly in their writing. The author has reconstructed their story from their extensive diaries, in which they compulsively explore their lives and the condition of the world as they perceive it. Again and again, they express both their love and hatred for each other and their desire yet inability to become separate individuals. This book is written by a sympathetic journalist for a general audience.Amy D. Goffman, Registered Physical Therapist, Charlottesville, Va.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
June and Jennifer Gibbons were identical twins. Their resistance to all communication except with each other defeated family, schools, psychologists and remedial homes. They were able to survive neither together nor apart. Wallace tells their remarkable story. (Kirkus UK)

The arresting, tragic story of freak twin sisters, Black West Indians, in a Welsh village (and then in prison), well-told by a Sunday Times reporter. A fascinating read for anyone who likes Oliver Sacks-type medical histories and for anyone else, too. June and Jennifer are twins, but not ordinary ones; mute in public and among family, together in private they communicate in an incomprehensible birdlike, speeded-up English. Self-educated, they write copious diaries, short stories, even novels (good, steamy ones, considering). They walk to and from school in a synchronized goose step. At other times they move with mirror-image gestures. They are inseparable - when hospital doctors attempt it, they stop eating for three weeks and remain still on their cots for days. Yet they hate each other with an incommunicable, attacking rage. Doctors and social workers give up on June and Jennifer by the time they hit adolescence, which is when they need help most. Living at home on the weekly dole checks, they can only get into trouble. Soon they become obsessed with boys and sex, giving themselves to a bunch of near-hoodlum American teen-agers living at the nearby base. The boys soon abandon them and the twins turn for fun to arson, which is how they end up in Broadmoor, Britain's huge prison for the criminally insane, where they are today. Beyond the sensational freakishness of this story, Wallace uses great care and insight to explore and unravel the minds and feelings of the two. She effectively chooses quotes from their diaries and fiction - quotes that tell their tale better than any outsider can. It's in these quotes that the story, at other times enraging or unreal, becomes simply very sad. (Kirkus Reviews)

From the Inside Flap
This is the astonishing tale of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins whose silent, antisocial exterior hid a rich, vast, creative life. From early childhood through their twenties, they spoke only to each other in a secret langauge, building an elaborate fantasy life. Then, from their self-imposed isolation, they were catapulted into the hormonal havoc of adolescence, plunging into a wild spree that led to their incarceration in a hospital for the criminally insane. A profoundly powerful and moving story.

Customer Reviews

"Vulnerable as flowers in hell"
The author means well, but I think the girls might have been better served simply by reprinting relevant entries from the voluminous diaries, with a minimum of commentary. As other reviewers have pointed out, Wallace seems quite confused by the girls and her narrative lacks important details as a result.

June and Jennifer stayed in Broadmoor hospital until 1993, when they were to be remanded to a more appropriate facility. Originally, they had had an understanding that if one of them should die, the other must begin to speak normally and tell their story to the world. By the time of their release, they had come to believe that they not only needed to be physically separate, but that in order for one to live a normal life, the other would have to die.

In an Observer (Guardian Unlimited) article following the deaths of the Bijani sisters, July 13, 2003, Wallace reports having tea with the Gibbons girls just before their release, at which time Jennifer informed her that she had decided to die, leaving the way open for June. Ten days later, they left Broadmoor, and Jennifer promptly leaned on June's shoulder and went unconscious. She died at 6:30 that evening. The autopsy showed a virulent inflammation of the heart. The doctors were unable to identify the source. To this day, Jennifer's death is a mystery, and June lives in their old hometown, near their parents. She revealed their complete story in an issue of Harper's magazine in late '93, with a followup called "We Two Made One", reprinted in the New Yorker for 12-4-2000. The song "Tsunami" by the Manic Street Preachers is based on their story.

We should love to see "Pepsi-Cola Addict", "Discomania", "Taxi-Driver's Son" and especially "The Pugilist" published in America.

Intriguing subject, flat writing
The story of the twinnies (as they are called in the book) is interesting on its own, which is the main saving grace of this tiresome work. The author doesn't hesitate to admit that the twins fascinated and confused her, and that fact shines through in her lack of style. The book jacket describes the twins' lives as being mired in arson, drugs, and sex, yet the only events that are dealt with great detail are the acts of arson. The reader is given no more detail about the twins once they reach the psychiatric hospital, where both girls believe they'll have the chance to communicate with others and maybe even begin a normal life. There's more hope in the twins' voices than there are from the author. The passages from their diaries are an alarming testament to their mental disease, but they are so lucid at times that the reader almost questions if the twins are the ones with the problems. Both girls realized they were their own worst enemies, but they were also one another's best friend. Their writings and diaries are highly accomplished, richly described pieces of writing. What a shame the author couldn't achieve the same.

This book was so captivating, I could hardly put it down!
This story was about twins (Jennifer & June Gibbons) and the story of their distorted lives together. By using actual pieces of the twins diaries, the author took you into the minds of these two girls and tries to explain what went wrong with their reality. The distortion of their every day lives is incredible , and one wonders how these two young ladies were unable to accept the reality of life, when most other twins develop normal. The possession that one twin has over the other is astonishing. I only wish there was some sort of follow up book to find out how the twins are coping in the 1990's.