Presentation 17 March 2018

LONELY SISTERS BY EKATERINE TOGONIDZE

19:00 Location: Berlin Book shop Tucholsky, Tucholskystraße 47, 10117 Berlin, Germany Organizer: Georgian National Book Center, Septime Verlag Author: Ekaterine Togonidze
Moderator: Jürgen Schütz
Interpreter: Nino Kavelashvili
Publisher: Septime Verlag, 2018

The Siamese twins Lina and Diana, die under mysterious circumstances. In this tragic story, Rostom, the girls’ absent father, only finds out about the existence of his daughters after their death. He later learns more about them and their lives by reading their diaries. Although twins, they were fairly different characters. Lina is happy and carefree, and falls in love easily. She is an optimistic and romantic soul, and often composes poems in her diary, taking pleasure in every little trifle she experiences in life. Diana is tougher and more down-to-earth. She is less content with her lot and is more aggressive as a result.

Like most Siamese twins, they fight and envy each other. However, unlike other people, neither twin can get by without the other. There is only one sphere in which they can act independently as individuals – in the diaries they keep. These diaries depict two very different characters, and record the voices of two independent individuals that happen to share a body from the waist down. Their grandmother hides them from the outside world until they reach their teenage years. She does her best to look after and protect them in the difficult post-Soviet years in Georgia. At that time, society had little understanding of conjoined twins – they were often regarded as a deformity. After their grandmother’s death, the girls are persecuted by society. They are physically, psychologically and sexually abused, and are forced to perform in a circus.