Violet and Daisy: The Story of Vaudeville's Famous Conjoined Twins

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Synopsis
From the author of The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets and The Borden Murders comes the absorbing and compulsively readable story of Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins who were the sensation of the US sideshow circuits in the 1920s and 1930s. On February 5, 1908, Kate Skinner, a 21-year-old unmarried barmaid in Brighton, England, gave birth to twin girls. They each had ten fingers and ten toes, but were joined back to back at the base of the spine. Freaks, monsters--that's what they were called. Mary Hilton, Kate's employer and midwife, adopted Violet and Daisy and promptly began displaying the babies as "Brighton's United Twins." Exhibitions at street fairs, carnivals, and wax museums across England and Scotland followed. At 8 years old, the girls came to the United States, eventually becoming the stars of sideshow, vaudeville, and burlesque circuits in the 1920s and 1930s. In a story loaded with questions about identity and exploitation, Sarah Miller delivers a completely compelling, empathetic portrait of two sisters whose bonds were so sacred that nothing — not even death— would compel Violet and Daisy to break them.
Copyright:
2021

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
320 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780593119747
Related ISBNs:
9780593119723
Publisher:
Random House Children's Books
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Sarah Miller
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Teens, Biographies and Memoirs, Parenting and Family
Reading Age:
12 and up
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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