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The Twins |
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 The Twins byTessa De Loo Soho Press 352 pages, 2000 ISBN 1569472009 Reviewed by PJ Nunn Anna and Lotte were twins, orphaned then separated at the age of five, to be raised in completely different worlds. Anna, the more healthy and jovial of the two, was taken by her grandfather to a tiny Catholic village and raised in abject poverty. Lotte, who was sickly and not expected to thrive, was adopted by a socialist uncle and taken to the Netherlands. Their lives couldn't have been more different or more separate despite family ties. The sisters didn't meet again until they were nearing seventy, at which time it seemed their differences were firmly established. Would the bonds of sisterhood be strong enough to overcome years of isolation and antagonistic backgrounds? The Twins is a tale of opposition and surrender, of loyalty and betrayal, and of emotional isolation in the midst of a crowd. The challenging saga provokes readers to look beyond "what is" toward "what might be," a lesson in life much easier to preach than to accomplish. Originally written in Dutch by Tessa de Loo and translated by Ruth Levitt, it retains the simplicity of heart wrenching emotion with a quiet dignity that compensates for any awkwardness in language. The Twins is a moving rendition that encourages readers to transcend situations and hold fast to the things that matter most in life. |
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