The Silent Twins

by Marjorie Wallace

Overview

When identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were three they began to reject communication with anyone but each other, and so began a childhood bound together in a strange and secret world.

As they grew up, love, hate, and genius united to push them to the extreme margins of society and, following a five week spree of vandalism and arson, the silent twins were sentenced to a grueling twelve-year detention in Broadmoor.

Award-winning investigative journalist Marjorie Wallace delves into the twins' silent world, revealing their genius, alienation, and the mystic bond by which the extremes of good and evil ended in possession and death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780099586418
Publisher:	Penguin Random House UK
Publication date:	05/12/2011
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Marjorie Wallace is an award-winning journalist, author, playwright, and broadcaster, and has won nine major awards for her journalism, books, and plays. She is currently Chief Executive of SANE, the mental health charity, which she helped to found. Marjorie Wallace (Countess Skarbeck) is married and lives in London with her three sons, Sacha, Stefan, and Justin, and daughter, Sophia Augusta.

Editorial Reviews

"A remarkable (and finally tragic) story which, in its depth, penetration and detail, no less than its extraordinary subject matter, must be seen as outstanding, a testimony to something extraordinary in the author herself." —New York Times Review of Books

"Strange, riveting... Thanks to Marjorie Wallace, thanks to the twins' incorrigible brilliance, we now have some idea of what it is like to stand in front of a dark mirror." —London Review of Books 

"A compelling and tragic story" —Mail on Sunday

"Breathtaking" —Independent

From the Publisher

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.

Library Journal

YA A fascinating study of psychologically troubled black twins in Wales. Wallace has thoroughly researched the history of these girls who rarely communicate with others. Their various obsessions (dolls, writing, sex, the occult, substance abuse, and eventually crime) are examined and reported in detail. Their bizarre behavior is explained and well documented as their struggle for identity becomes one for survival. Wallace is adept at description, and this true tale of the love/hate relationship reads like a novel. In dramatic style, Wallace relates the helplessness of the adults who unsuccessfully try to break the twins' barriers to communication. Many quotes from the twins' copious diaries reveal their vulnerability, confusion, and frustration. The closing gives some hope for their eventual release from the hospital where they now serve life sentences. Sue McGown, St. John's School, Houston

School Library Journal