Since their birth, twin sisters Rose and Ruby Darlen have been known simply as "The Girls." Raised by Aunt Lovey, the nurse who took them in after their mother abandoned them, they have lived all their lives in the small town of Leaford, in an old farmhouse bordered by cornfields. This is the story of their shared life, two sisters who are ordinary in most respects but who have a relationship of profound and unmatched intimacy. For Rose and Ruby are conjoined twins, connected inseparably at the head, facing the world side by side. The Girls is the affecting chronicle of their incomparable life journey, a heartrending story of love between sisters.

Now nearing thirty, Rose and Ruby are soon to be history’s oldest conjoined twins, and Rose decides it is time to write the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby. From their awkward first steps—Ruby’s arm curled around Rose’s neck, her legs wrapped around Rose’s hips—this is an unmatched story of the most intense love imaginable. As Ruby watches Rose write her memoirs, she decides she wants to tell her part too; for though they are as close as two people can be, their lives and voices are wonderfully, powerfully distinct. Every experience of growing up comes rushing through in their telling—their first loves, their painful choices, losses, and triumphs—but every experience is doubled, sometimes joyfully and sometimes painfully.

The Girls charts the depths of a miraculous friendship, unsettling and beautiful in its closeness. As the two stories parallel, diverge, and intertwine, building to an unforgettable conclusion, Lansens aims at the heart of human experience and the fundamental joy of connection.

PRAISE FOR THE GIRLS

“I promise: you will never forget this extraordinary story...Lori Lansens' blend of tragedy and comedy will touch you deeply.”  — ISABEL ALLENDE

“A tale of kindness, love, and the off things life throws at us, no matter our circumstances … The backdrop of sisters who share in essential brain vein offers complications that give the story special meaning, but Lansens' writing is so haunting and filled with the ache of dreams unrealized, the characters seem just like everyone else … Make sure, by the end, you have plenty of tissues handy.”  — USA TODAY

“The Girls, by Lori Lansens, is a ballad, a melancholy song of two very strange, enchanted girls who live out their peculiar, ordinary lives is a rural corner of Canada....The Girls glides by like a watercolor dream, finding its poetry in dailiness and the universalities of human desire and connection....Lansens, who has a gentle, open way of writing, makes of these two girls a kind of perfect marriage, harmonious and everlasting.”  — THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Extraordinarily moving: joyous, heartbreaking, and shot through with moments of dark humor.... The voices of Rose and Ruby cry out to be heard for their glorious celebration of humanity.”  — VOGUE

“Lansens beats the odds: A book that could have been tasteless provides a complex consideration of identity and individuality, of sameness and difference, of what it means to be normal and what it takes to feel at home in the world.”  — PEOPLE MAGAZINE

“[Lansens'] real triumph is this strange story's rich context: a Canadian farming community where we encouter the full spectrum of human frailty.”  — ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“Lori Lansens creates two distinct voices with rare beauty.... Lansens handles issues of intimacy and privacy with warmth and humour.”  — THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“It is the true test of a writer's mettle to create a convincing narrator, and Lori Lansens has done it not once but twice in her remarkable novel about conjoined twins. The two fascinating protagonists of The Girls live their lives together in every way, and yet nevertheless emerge with beliefs and desires all their own, and with distinct outlooks on their difficult circumstances. We are all fortunate for a novelist with so delicate and sensitive a touch.”  — ARTHUR GOLDEN, author of Memoirs of a Geisha

“Lansens overcomes the "ick" factor in this surprisingly moving story.... The novel's power lies in the wonderful narrative voices of Rose and Ruby. Lansens has created a richly nuanced, totally believable sibling relationship.... An unsentimental, heartwarming page-turner. Quite an achievement.”  — KIRKUS, starred review

“The biggest achievement in the novel is bringing to life these two extraordinary characters to such a degree that readers may forget they are reading fiction.”  — BOOKLIST, starred review

“Extraordinary. A masterful and sophisticated duet. a multidimensional vision of the sisters' lives.”  — TIME MAGAZINE