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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.
When Elyse contacted her adoption agency, she was
not prepared for the shocking, life-changing news
she received: She had an identical twin sister. Elyse
was then hit with another bombshell: she and her
sister had been separated as infants, and for a time,
had been 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 the 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 and take their tentative first steps
from strangers to sisters, Paula and Elyse are also
left with haunting questions surrounding their origins
and their separation. They learn that the study
was conducted by a pair of influential psychiatrists
associated with a prestigious adoption agency. As
they investigate their birth mother's past, Paula and
Elyse move closer toward solving the puzzle of their
lives.
In alternating voices, Paula and Elyse write with
emotional honesty about the immediate intimacy
they share as twins and the wide chasm that divides
them as two complete strangers. Interweaving eyeopening
studies and statistics on twin science into
their narrative, they offer an intelligent and heartfelt
glimpse into human nature.
Identical Strangers is the amazing story of two
women coming to terms with the strange and unbelievable
hand fate has dealt them, an account that
broadens the definition of family and provides insight
into our own DNA and the singularly exceptional imprint it leaves on our lives.
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