The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins
by Dean Jensen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dean JensenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-09-01
ISBN: 1580087582
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Book Reviews of The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins
Book Review: An Incredible Achievement !
Summary: 5 Stars
I originally became intrigued by conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton after seeing the 1932 film "Freaks" back in the late 1980s. I subsequently read that they had spent their final years, and in fact are buried, in my own state of North Carolina.
When James Taylor reprinted the sisters' own autobiography in his publication "Shocked and Amazed," I eagerly ordered those issues. I was pleasantly surprised to learn in those pages that a gentleman named Dean Jensen was researching the sisters' lives, and that what he had discovered was a lot wilder than the euphemistic gloss the twins put on their own account of their adventures.
I began anticipating this book immediately. Even then, Jensen's work-in-progress seemed too good to be true, his subject(s) so esoteric and obscure a topic of interest, that I had to wonder if it would ever see publication. Time passed, my anticipation cooled off . . . and then out of the blue this year, an internet correspondent mentioned he'd just received his copy! A web search confirmed it had been out for several months already! A bit chagrined, I quickly ordered a copy for myself.
I have to say the long wait was justified by the degree of biographical detail Mr. Jensen put into his book. This is especially impressive considering how difficult it must have been to dig up the facts on these girls in whom any popular interest had gone cold long before the petite Daisy and Violet were laid to rest in a single casket in a grave plot that was theirs only out of charity.
Take, for instance, the intimate account of their birth, almost a hundred years ago, in a Brighton England slum. It reads as though Mr. Jensen was an eyewitness!
Daisy and Violet emerge in Jensen's biography as complex, flawed human beings, far from the mere "victims-of-fate-and-avarice-to-be-pitied" their own memoir paints them as. Their behavior is often far from admirable though they will still engage your sympathies.
This book is fascinating and more than once jaw-dropping. I have to say, "Thank you, Mr. Jensen; your book was worth the wait."
-- Micah Harris
Summary of The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins
THE LIVES AND LOVES OF DAISY AND VIOLET HILTON follows the poignant life story of twin sisters who were literally joined at the hip, set against the tumultuous backdrop of America during the first half of the 20th century. Daisy and Violet and an unforgettable cast of show-business characters come alive on the pages of this carefully researched and sensitively written biography.Reviews"Jensen'¬?s book is a testament to the fickleness of the entertainment world."-Tampa Bay Tribune"It is an affecting story, gently and honestly told without frills, without sensation. In Jensen'¬?s hands, the twins are always human, individuals, never freaks joined at the hips as the world saw them after their birth in 1908. . . Here, their story is pure."-Milwaukee Journal SentinelTheater Books
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