Rebecca Wait is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, The View on the Way Down (2013), The Followers, (2015) and Our Fathers (2020), which was a Guardian Book of the Year and Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Her new novel is I'm Sorry You Feel That Way.
At the Guardian Wait tagged ten of "the most interesting twins in literature. Some display the closeness we might expect, but others are (perhaps more interestingly) beset by mutual resentment and distrust." One entry on the list:
Helen and Ellie in Beside Myself by Ann MorganRead about another entry on the list.
The premise of this cracking novel is this: six-year-old identical twins Helen and Ellie play a game of swapping identities for the day. But then Ellie refuses to swap back. Previously, Helen had been the leader of the two, regarded as the cleverer, more confident one. Now Ellie has stolen that role from her, and no one will believe Helen’s protests. It might sound improbable, but it’s skilfully executed, and the book poses intriguing questions about family roles as we watch the ramifications of the swap play out across the twins’ adult lives.
Beside Myself is among Emma Rous's eight books that fuel our fascination with twins.
--Marshal Zeringue
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