Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited [B1916]

2007 HCDJ in nice clean condition. As seen in the hit documentary Three Identical Strangers. "[A] poignant memoir of twin sisters who were split up as infants, became part of a secret scientific study, then found each other as adults."-Reader's Digest (Editors' Choice). Winner of a BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE Award.

Elyse Schein had always known she was adopted, but it wasn't until her mid-thirties while living in Paris that she searched for her biological mother. What she found instead was shocking: She had an identical twin sister. What's more, after being separated as infants, she and her sister had been, for a time, part of a secret study on separated twins. Paula Bernstein, a married writer and mother living in New York, also knew she was adopted, but had no inclination to find her birth mother. When she answered a call from her adoption agency one spring afternoon, Paula's life suddenly divided into two starkly different periods: the time before and the time after she learned the truth. As they reunite, taking their tentative first steps from strangers to sisters, Paula and Elyse are left with haunting questions surrounding their origins and their separation. And when they investigate their birth mother's past, the sisters move closer toward solving the puzzle of their lives.

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Quite the journey into the insanity of 'the need' to separate identical twins at birth via adoption in 1968. So much information about identical twins and twins, truly fascinating. Bring an adoptive parent myself, I am stunned at the cruelty of closed adoptions. I thank God that our experience was so different and so blessed."; "This was disturbing and fascinating. I can't believe this agency deliberately split up twins and triplets and enlisted them in psychological studies. Horrifying. I'm glad Elyse and Paula found each other and found some answers."; "A fascinating story. I found myself liking one twin more than the other; yet, by end, I enjoyed them both. "Strangers" is a most apt title. Knowing a family that has 2 sets of identical twins, and growing up with one set, I got a new perspective on what "twinship" means. Thank you for sharing your story."