First published 2006
Blair and Bunny Heath make medical history as the first adult conjoined twins successfully separated in terror-filled London. Meanwhile, in the war-ravaged Caucasus, Ludmila Derev accidentally causes her grandfather's death. Ludmila heads west to rescue her family from hunger and brutal Gnez soldiers. The Heath twins escape a privatized institution once built for royal bastards into a wild new world of capitalism and freedom. Dangerous drinks and a Russian mail-order bride website bring these three survivors together. By December, they stand together in a snowy field with a rebel's weapon pointed at them. Ludmila fights to keep her family alive while navigating a landscape torn apart by conflict. The twins struggle to understand their new separate lives in a society obsessed with self-improvement and instant gratification. Their paths cross in explosive ways that none of them expect.
Genres: fiction, adventure, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, survival
Setting: Caucasus, London
Period: 21st-century
352 pages · Paperback · Podium
Content warnings: violence, war