Harry Mathews’s last novel is one of his most accessible—and perhaps one of his best Harry Mathews's brilliant final work, The Solitary Twin, is an engaging mystery that simultaneously considers the art of storytelling. When identical twins arrive at an unnamed fishing port, they become the focus of the residents' attention and gossip. The stories they tell about the young men uncover a dizzying web of connections, revealing passion, sex, and murder. Fates are surprisingly intertwined, and the result is a moving, often hilarious, novel that questions our assumptions about life and literature.

The combination of a riveting true story and cutting-edge twin research makes this book an irresistible page-turner. Identical twins Begoña and Delia were born thirty-eight years ago in Spain’s Canary Islands. Due to chaotic conditions at the hospital or simple human error, the unthinkable happened: Delia was unintentionally switched with another infant in the baby nursery. This fascinating story describes in vivid detail the consequences of this unintentional separation of identical twin sisters. The author considers not only the effects on these particular sisters, but the important implications of this and similar cases for questions concerning identity, familial bonds, nature-nurture, and the law.

When his twin brother dies in a car accident, Helmer is obliged to return to the small family farm. He resigns himself to taking over his brother's role and spending the rest of his days 'with his head under a cow'. After his old, worn-out father has been transferred upstairs, Helmer sets about furnishing the rest of the house according to his own minimal preferences. 'A double bed and a duvet', advises Ada, who lives next door, with a sly look. Then Riet appears, the woman once engaged to marry his twin. Could Riet and her son live with him for a while, on the farm?'The Twin' is an ode to the platteland, the flat and bleak Dutch countryside with its ditches and its cows and its endless grey skies. Ostensibly a novel about the countryside, as seen through the eyes of a farmer, 'the Twin' is, in the end, about the possibility or impossibility of taking life into one's own hands. It chronicles a way of life which has resisted modernity, is culturally apart, and yet riven with a kind of romantic longing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

People are fascinated with twins - intrigued by their closeness with each other. But what happens when twins are separated, especially by death? Twin mortality is high, but it is not uncommon for a lone twin's loss, at any age, to go unmarked. They need extra help and support to take them through the loss of their 'other half.' The loss of a twin can be devastating to the survivor. Working as an Attachment therapist, Joan Woodward uses John Bowlby's theories as her conceptual base for her research. In this book, she suggests that the highly significant attachment that twins make with each other may begin, for many, before birth. She explains their closeness and tragic experience of death and bereavement. The Lone Twin includes parental attitudes to the surviving twin, the surviving twin's guilt, the ability to cope, and the effect of loss in childhood and adulthood. Of particular interest are those who lost their twin at birth. Throughout, the book is illustrated by the words of surviving twins' affecting accounts of their experiences of bereavement. This is an important and rare book for many professionals - counselors, psychotherapists, social workers, psychologists, and teachers - who come into contact with bereaved twins and yet have little understanding of the dynamics of twinship and of twin loss. Written in jargon-free language, the book is also for the twins themselves, their families, partners, and friends. It gives lone twins the chance to have their voices heard, and it gives professionals the opportunity to develop more effective ways of supporting the lone twin. This greatly expanded and revised second edition details the progress that has been made in the ten years since the book was first published, along with the growth of The Lone Twin Network.

Recent studies of twins have shaken the field of psychology to its foundation, revolutionizing our understanding of our own personalities. Because identical twins separated at birth share all the same genes, yet live separate lives, they offer a unique opportunity to test theories about the roles played by nature and nurture in shaping who we are. Twins directly challenges many long-held beliefs. For instance, a series of groundbreaking studies of twins has shown that our genes play a much stronger role in shaping our identities than previously thought. Today, scientists can actually estimate what proportion of our intelligence, our personality, and our behavior is determined by inherited tendencies. Even our political orientation and our religious commitment, it turns out, are largely governed by our genes. Twins is filled with astounding stories of identical twins who have lived entirely separate lives but have an incredible amount in common: their hobbies, their mannerisms, their taste in music, food, and clothes, their experiences in marriage and divorce, their careers, their sexuality, even the names they've given their children.

The first book in the Solitary Tales suspense series will remind you what it means to believe in what you cannot see.