Split

Creelman's second novel (after The Darren Effect) explores the relationship between two identical twins as girls, teens, and women. April and Pilgrim grow up on a farm in rural Massachusetts during the 1970s with their eccentric parents. Even for twins, the girls share an unusually close bond, sharing thoughts and feelings to the point that the border between them as individuals is blurry. But when the girls are 16, their father recruits a young doctor from the Bahamas to provide care in their small town. The girls' mutual infatuation with the doctor, Jean Moss, drives them apart, and his relationship with them shakes the foundation of the family. The novel, which shifts between the past and the girls' adult present, also explores race relations in America, in the 1970s when Jean discovers that a black doctor won't have many white patients and in a new era when the first black American president faces his own challenges. Creelman skillfully crafts a suspenseful read with intriguing, unpredictable characters. (Sept.)