Identical Strangers by Elise Schein and Paula Bernstein

This is a book about two girl twins who are adopted as babies and find each other at the age of 35 without realizing they were twins. The NY adoption agency was part of an experiment to separate twins whose mothers had mental health problems and observe them growing up in different families to see what part heredity vs environment plays in the twins' mental health. While the writing is a bit sloppy, I liked how the twins Elise and Paula wrote about the experience each from their own perspective. Elise was the eager one (also single and living in Paris) seeking out her twin, the mystery of the adoption agency and her birth mother. Paula was reluctant to have Elise become apart of her life- she was married and had a little girl. They had many similar interests such as film, and yet were also quite different. I was struck by the nasty and secret nature of the adoption agency and their unwillingness to help the twins piece the puzzle together about why they were separated for adoption. I found it touching when their birth uncle agrees to meet with them just once at the end to share the story of their severely depressed mother and what happened to her. This will make for some good book club discussion next week!