Twin Studies, Freehand Books, 2018
iBooks Review:
Keith Maillard’s first novel in 12 years is richly detailed and an absolute joy to read. Social scientist Erica Bauer becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of struggling single mom Karen Oxley and her young children, who are enrolled in a study of identical twins. Maillard’s generous affection for his characters is matched by his vividly real depictions of Vancouver. His fascinating exploration of wealth, class, and gender fluidity reads like a 21st-century Canadian version of Dickens’ London novels.
Excerpt from Twin Studies
Bauer
From: Jamiedevon Oxley-Clark [geminiforever@pacificnet.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 11:18 PM
To: Dr. Erica Bauer
Subject: Website Email Form Submission
This message has been automatically generated from the contacts section of the Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program website.
Name & Email:
NAME: Jamiedevon Oxley-Clark
EMAIL: geminiforever@pacificnet.com
COMMENTS: Dear Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program,
We are identical twins and we very much want to be in your Twin Study. We read about it on the net. Our name is Jamie and Devon Oxley-Clark, we were born together on December 12, 1996, at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Our parents told us we are fraternal but we are identical. We google twins and visit all the websites and we wish we could be in a twin club or go to twin conferences. We think we are a very rare kind of identical, we bet you have never studied identicals like us, we hope you will study us. We are definitely monozygotic, we bet we had the same placenta too. We think something weird happened to our egg when it split, we hope you can tell us what, we bet we are really rare. Please read this letter all the way to the end and let us be in your Twin Study.
We are going into grade 8 at Palmerston, we are in AP. Our best friends are twins, they are identical, nobody ever tells them they are fraternal. We think maybe we should have an operation to make us totally identical, then people would stop telling us we are fraternal but why should we have to do that? If people let us alone to be identical we would be happy. We hope you can help us, we do not want to be separated.
We live with our mother. Our father lives in California so plus being twins we are double citizens. We are afraid he will split us up again. They bisected us when we were little. Our Mom got to keep Jamie and our little sister and the house and our Dad got to keep Devon, so Devon went down to California and lived with our Dad. It was not like in The Parent Trap, we always knew about each other, we always knew we were twins, we always talked to each other on our birthday, it was not a big deal. Last summer our Dad let Devon come to West Vancouver to visit, it was amazing, we were identical. Our parentals were like no no you are not identical you are fraternal. We were like who are you, are you on crack, we are identical, we were distraught. Devon went back to California, we talked online every night, our Dad found out and we were cut. We had to send letters in the mail, it really sucked. We can not tell you how cruel it was, it was depressing, but we talked on the phone in the dark of the night and decided if they were going to split us up forever we would have to commit suicide. Do you know other twins who got split up? Can you tell us about them and what happened to them? Did any of them commit suicide?
Here is how we were going to do it, we were going to Home Hardware and get long rubber hoses and connect them to the exhaust pipes of the cars and run the hoses in the windows and seal them up with duck tape, like sit in the car, we know how to start a car, and talk on the phone and just go to sleep and our souls would fuse. Our Mom intercepted Devon’s snail mail about this, family drama to the max. Our Dad was like OK Devon can go back up to Canada for the rest of grade 7 and we will see how it works out, Devon is on loan. Mom is like we never should have split you up, no one is going to split you up ever again unless you do it yourselves but she can not say this to Dad because he has custody of Devon. We were so happy to be reunited, we can not tell you. We went to Palmerston, we did not have issues, we were not inappropriate, we got good grades, every body was amazed. We hope Dad notices this and does not split us up. We do not want to have to commit suicide, that would be really depressing.
Now we are trying to be as identical as we can. There are lots of ways to be identical you would not think of at first, you have to think all the time. Mom is like you have an obsessive compulsive disorder and should be in therapy but it has got so bad these days the minute you walk in the office all they know how to do is reach for their prescription pads, she does not believe in kids being on medication like this drug that makes kids commit suicide, have you heard about it, so she gives up. Do you know any other twins who try to be identical? If you do, could you tell us what happened to them? We do not want to be in therapy or take some weird drug that makes you commit suicide when you do not want to.
We do not know what else you want to know about us, please write back and tell us and we will tell you everything you want to know. Please let us be in your Twin Study. We do not want to be split up. We want to meet other twins and talk to them and find out what happened to them, we hope we can find out what happened to our egg, we bet we are really rare, so you can see why we want to be in your Twin Study. Please write back soon.
We are most sincerely yours,
Jamie Oxley-Clark
Devon Oxley-Clark
©Keith Maillard, 2018