The Foursome - by Christina Baker Kline (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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 -- Kline's own distant relatives -- who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.

When Eng and Chang Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they're not just a curiosity--they're 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, they're 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, isn't 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.

Review Quotes

"Christina Baker Kline is a masterful storyteller with an extraordinary subject in The Foursome. Chang and Eng can literally never be apart, which means that their wives--Addie and her sister Sarah--are also held in an impossible proximity to each other. What a wonderful study of intimacy of all kinds, of love and tolerance, of growing together and growing apart. In short, of what it is to be human." --Ann Napolitano, bestselling author of Hello, Beautiful
"The Foursome explores the complexities of marriage, sisterhood, and raising children at a time and place where conformity was the norm and change was just beginning to stir. Kline weaves a beautiful tapestry of love, doubt, identity, and resilience in a world that left little room for differences. I really loved this book."-- Sadeqa Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of Keeper of Lost Children
"The Foursome is a triumph of empathy and imagination, a wildly engaging, morally-complex story made even richer by Christina Baker Kline's fascinating connection to the real-life Chang and Eng Bunker." - Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins

"The Foursome is a breathtaking dive into identity, history and romantic love set against the backdrop of a country in turmoil. Chang and Eng Bunker are conjoined twins who marry Addie and Sallie and build their lives in pre-Civil War North Carolina. Emotional, often raw, the story of two families buffeted by physical impediments and societal constraints is told over decades that bring massive changes that upend their world. This novel is an unforgettable page turner replete with the author's immersive style. The Foursome stands as the jewel in the crown of Christina Baker Kline's dazzling career." -Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The View From Lake Como

"Christina Baker Kline has taken the story of the famous 19th century conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker, and their wives the Yates sisters, and transformed this often sensationalized slice of history into a deeply felt, meticulously observed exploration of the mystery of marriage and family that portrays the ways in which good-hearted people can both reflect the prejudices of their era and question them in a community beset by a brutal civil war. I have loved all Kline's books; this beautiful, thought-provoking novel is her best yet. A rare and courageous marvel." - Alice Eliott Dark, author of Fellowship Point