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Chang and Eng

By Darin Strauss

By Darin Strauss

By Darin Strauss

By Darin Strauss

Best Seller
Paperback $16.00

May 01, 2001 | ISBN 9780452281097

Ebook $9.99

May 01, 2001 | ISBN 9781101538074

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    Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss
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    May 01, 2001 | ISBN 9780452281097

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      May 01, 2001 | ISBN 9780452281097

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      May 01, 2001 | ISBN 9781101538074

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    About Chang and Eng

    This stunning novel combines fiction with astonishing fact to tell the story of history’s most famous conjoined twins.

    Born in Siam in 1811—on a squalid houseboat on the Mekong River—Chang and Eng Bunker were international celebrities before the age of twenty. Touring the world’s stages as a circus act, they settled in the American South just prior to the Civil War. They eventually married two sisters from North Carolina, fathering twenty-one children between them, and lived for more than six decades never more than seven inches apart, attached at the chest by a small band of skin and cartilage.

    Woven from the fabric of fact, myth, and imagination, Strauss’s narrative gives poignant, articulate voice to these legendary brothers, and humanizes the freakish legend that grew up around them. Sweeping from the Far East and the court of the King of Siam to the shared intimacy of their lives in America, Chang and Eng rescues one of the nineteenth century’s most fabled human oddities from the sideshow of history, drawing from their extraordinary lives a novel of exceptional power and beauty.

    About Chang and Eng

    This stunning novel combines fiction with astonishing fact to tell the story of history’s most famous conjoined twins.

    Born in Siam in 1811—on a squalid houseboat on the Mekong River—Chang and Eng Bunker were international celebrities before the age of twenty. Touring the world’s stages as a circus act, they settled in the American South just prior to the Civil War. They eventually married two sisters from North Carolina, fathering twenty-one children between them, and lived for more than six decades never more than seven inches apart, attached at the chest by a small band of skin and cartilage.

    Woven from the fabric of fact, myth, and imagination, Strauss’s narrative gives poignant, articulate voice to these legendary brothers, and humanizes the freakish legend that grew up around them. Sweeping from the Far East and the court of the King of Siam to the shared intimacy of their lives in America, Chang and Eng rescues one of the nineteenth century’s most fabled human oddities from the sideshow of history, drawing from their extraordinary lives a novel of exceptional power and beauty.

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    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also by Darin Strauss

    The Queen of Tuesday
    Half a Life
    More Than It Hurts You
    The Real McCoy
    See all books by Darin Strauss

    Also by Darin Strauss

    The Queen of Tuesday
    Half a Life
    More Than It Hurts You
    The Real McCoy
    See all books by Darin Strauss

    About Darin Strauss

    Darin Strauss is the bestselling author of several books. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing and numerous other awards, Strauss has seen his work translated into fourteen languages and published in more than twenty countries. He is a… More about Darin Strauss

    About Darin Strauss

    Darin Strauss is the bestselling author of several books. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing and numerous other awards, Strauss has seen his work translated into fourteen languages and published in more than twenty countries. He is a… More about Darin Strauss

    Product Details

    Category: Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $16.00
    Published by Plume
    May 01, 2001 | 336 Pages | 5-5/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780452281097

    Category: Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $9.99
    Published by Plume
    May 01, 2001 | 336 Pages | ISBN 9781101538074

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    Praise

    Praise for Darin Strauss and Chang and Eng

    “Stunning.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    “Richly imagined…a haunting and thoroughly entertaining parable of loyalty and love.”—Los Angeles Times

    “Chang and Eng rocks with twisted passion, wickedly astute ruminations and a sly and powerful wit.”—James Ellroy, author of The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential

    Awards

    Alex Award – YALSA WINNER

    Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award WINNER

    Book Sense 76 Top Ten Selection WINNER

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