Lansens did a lot of unusual and fascinating research, and it shows. They eventually moved to town, attended public schools and shared a job at the local library. Her wonderful down-to-earth attitude prevented the girls’ self-pity and kept them from feeling like freaks. There, she helped Rose and Ruby ignore or overcome all of the predictions about their limitations. Lovey owned a decrepit old farmhouse, which she had long-ago inherited from her family. In order to give them as much privacy as possible, the Darlen family moved outside of the small town of Leaford, Canada (Lansens’ home town). The obvious physical problems were not the worst that they had to overcome. In the mean time, their mother disappeared and Lovey convinced her husband, the girls beloved “Uncle Stash,” that they should adopt the girls, in spite of the fact that they were both already in their fifties. So she remained with them for weeks until they were ready to be released. who referred to Ruby as “the parasitic one” and considered “removing” her to enable Rose to have a more normal life. There, she soon felt a compelling need to guard them from everyone, including the Dr. Lovey bonded with the twins immediately and rode with them in the ambulance when they were rushed to a larger hospital. Lovey Darlen was a nurse on duty the night that a mysterious young stranger delivered her twin daughters who were joined at the head. The sadness of some of the subject matter is told with a restrained but tender poignancy and did not prevent its over-all effect of being uplifting. It was difficult to put this book down, but not out of any morbid fascination with their circumstances, rather with eager anticipation to learn their reactions to situations in their lives.
Lansens has not sensationalized their story, but treated every aspect with sensitivity and dignity, providing only enough of the details to understand both the challenges and solutions “the girls” achieved in their lives. How could the average person relate to an autobiography of conjoined twins? The concept seemed depressing – and besides – how much of a “real” life could they have led? In spite of reading some outstanding reviews of this novel and being a big admirer of Lori Lansens’ previous book, Rush Home Road, I admit that I had some misgivings about reading The Girls – primarily due to the subject matter. How lucky Ruby and I have been to be ‘The Girls.’" The world’s oldest surviving craniopagus twins. "“… I wouldn’t live a thousand lives, but a million to infinity, to live the life I’ve lived as me.
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