The Foursome: A Novel

ISBN: 0063097990

Author: Kline, Christina Baker

Condition: New

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline comes a boldly original reimagining of the astonishing true story of two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina - Klines own distant relatives - who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.When Eng and Chang Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, theyre not just a curiosity-theyre a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, theyre looking for wives-and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge.Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Adelaide sees in the twins fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sarah, quiet and observant, isnt so sure. When the twins lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything-including race, class, and gender-is rigidly defined.Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, The Foursome is both intimate and epic: a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.