Millie-Christine: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Book

23. Millie-Christine Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Joanne Martell - This is a biography about a famous pair of conjoined twins who were born in the US south as slaves in 1851 and throughout their lives became famous not only for their unusual body, but for becoming fluent in 5 languages, talented singers, and accomplished musicians. They were joined at the backside at the sacrum, but were nearly completely separate (similar to how Daisy and Violet Hilton were joined). Most interestingly, they are frequently referred to as a single person. As though they are a single girl with 2 heads rather than two people. They clearly had their own unique personalities, but even they would refer to themselves as Millie-Christine, one girl rather than as twins. I don't think I've read about another set of conjoined twins who felt this way. Chang and Eng Bunker who predated them were always referred to as twins and 2 separate people.

It was pretty fascinating to read about their lives. Despite the chaos of their early years, they were always kind to people, always doing what they could to help family and friends, doting upon their many nieces and nephews. They even opened a school for kids where they were from and supported the school financially the rest of their lives as well as making many generous anonymous donations to several colleges. They were much-adored, although when they were in France, they were referred to (and treated like) a monster. They were also put under a lot of pressure to allow themselves to be intimately examined (which was not OK with them since they were ladies and this was the 19th century). They offered to lift their blouses and show where they were joined, but they kept gunning for a full exam. Which they didn't get. They compelled the sisters to undress, but they absolutely would not allow their most intimate parts to be examined, much to the disappointment of the examiners.

My one complaint about this book is too much of it focuses on the where/what/how they were exhibited rather than how they felt about it, behaved, etc. Especially in their childhood years. There is interesting insight on some of the other famous folks they traveled with though.