First published 2007
Blair and Bunny Heath wake up in separate beds for the first time in their lives. The adult conjoined twins have just survived a surgical separation in terror-struck London. Meanwhile, in the war-torn Caucasus, Ludmila Derev accidentally kills her grandfather and flees west to save her family from starvation and marauding Gnez troops. Her journey involves sour wit, sourer vodka, and a Soviet tractor that runs on questionable fuel. The Heath twins emerge from their newly privatized institution into a world of opportunity, freedom, and sex. Dangerous cocktails and a Russian Brides website eventually throw all three characters together. Ludmila carries the weight of survival while the twins navigate their first taste of independence. Their collision creates explosive consequences that test what it means to be whole.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Caucasus, London
Period: 20th-century
326 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: war