The Silent Twins: Now a major motion picture starring Letitia Wright

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During her time at Broadmoor, Jennifer wrote in a diary entry: ‘I really aim to be alone. Yet, I am deceiving myself. Can I stand being alone? My heart does not beat so fast now. It only beats fast when J is around.’ Solitamente se un libro mi crea così tanta fatica lo abbandono, ma volevo davvero conoscere tutta la storia delle gemelle Gibbons perchè, appunto, di per sé è interessante. The astounding true story behind the major new motion picture starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, with a new epilogue from the author Jennifer said, ‘Marjorie, Marjorie, I’m going to have to die,’ and I sort of laughed. Why are you going to have to die? You’re not ill.’ And she said, ‘Because we’ve decided.’”

SMITH: Marjorie was having fun with the twins, but still, June and Jennifer's relationship wasn't an easy. Marjorie read diary entry after diary entry in which the twins wrote about how trapped or sometimes even possessed or tortured they felt by each other. They rarely stayed at one school for long, so the only constant was each other. Anne Treherne, a psychologist who examined the twins, opined that Jennifer controlled June using eye signals. Yet, she couldn’t explain the perfect synchrony of the twins’ actions. Jennifer's cheekbones were very thin and her face looked very flushed. She looked, I think, quite afraid. June looked determined. I was very disturbed at the end of this visit.It was a thrilling experience to read a mythical, pretty much non-existent rare book that lots of people are desperate to read. It took me six hours in one sitting to read due to my dyslexia and before you ask, I'm sorry to disappoint as I can't photocopy and post it online for all to see because I don't own it.

Staff who treated the girls struggled to determine whether there was a more dominant figure in their relationship. They started talking late and when they finally did speak, their words came out garbled. They chirped and squeaked, enunciating the wrong syllables,” Marjorie Wallace, author of the 1986 book “ The Silent Twins,” told NPR in 2015. “No one else could understand them. It was like they were speaking a foreign language. They both moved in sort of synchronicity.” The doctors at the Caswell Clinic deduced that the medications given to the girls at Broadmoor must have provoked Jennifer’s immune system — though they also noted that June was given the same medications and was in perfect health upon arriving,” All That’s Interesting reported. Their relationship was complicated. On one hand, they were best friends, and on the other, they occasionally tried to kill each other -- Jennifer tried to strangle June with the cord of a radio, and June responded by throwing Jennifer off a bridge. Their odd behavior escalated as they grew older and turned to petty theft and arson. It was at this point that their parents realized there might be something wrong with the girls and agreed to have them committed (and if they hadn't, the authorities probably would have insisted).

This book is actually very good.. the weird grammar and spelling choices make the story very dreamy and uncanny, while also sometimes funny and randomly beautiful. it’s also quintessentially (almost satirically?) american, in a way that maybe only a non-american could write. Full of irony and contradictions, but i definitely expected a more surreal and bizarre book than this which is very readable, empathetic, and mature. Shout out to david tibet.. i get the vision This is the extraordinary story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins born in the UK in 1963 to parents of Barbadian heritage. Their lives captivated the nation and were the inspiration behind the lyrics of Tsunami by the Manic Street Preachers. A poster for “The Silent Twins,” starring Tamara Lawrance (left) and Letitia Wright. The film tells the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons. Focus Features WALLACE: It was quite an injustice that they were taken to somewhere so secure, but sadly no other institution would accept them and that was because everyone who interviewed them and found them too eerie, too spooky. Another unusual thing I remember is that when characters referred to the time they would say ‘5 past of 10’ instead of 5 minutes past 10’. A few times in amongst normal language there would be an unusual obscure word that stood out, also there were too many things described as the same thing, such as Preston’s Sister and Mother are at different points of the book described as ‘comes flouncing into the room’. Preston doesn’t call his Mother 'Mum' she is referred to formally as Mrs Wylde. I originally thought she was a teacher or a neighbour, he also refers to his love rival by his full name. A classic line was Preston’s Mother referring to the noisy prison as 'it's noisy like a Prison camp’

When identical twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons were three they began to reject communication with anyone but each other, and so began a childhood bound together in a strange and secret world. As they grew up, love and hate united to push them to the extreme margins of society and, following a five week spree of vandalism and arson, the silent twins were sentenced to a gruelling twelve-year detention in Broadmoor.Tamara Lawrance stars as Jennifer Gibbons and Letitia Wright stars as June Gibbons in director Agnieszka Smoczynska's The Silent Twins. We got twelve years of hell, because we didn’t speak. We had to work hard to get out. We went to the doctor. We said, ‘Look, they wanted us to talk, we’re talking now.’ He said, ‘You’re not getting out. You’re going to be here for thirty years.’ We lost hope, really.” ELIZA SMITH, BYLINE: Like most twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons had an innate bond. They had grown up on an army base in Wales. They started talking late and when they finally did speak, their words came out garbled. They chirped and squeaked, enunciating the wrong syllables. No one else could understand them. It was like they were speaking a foreign language.

After the psychiatrist session, the girls were taken to see a speech therapist at Withybush Hospital. WALLACE: This is June. (Reading) Nobody suffers the way I do, not with a sister; with a husband, yes; with a wife, yes; with a child, yes, but this sister of mine, a dark shadow robbing me of sunlight, is my one and only torment. I found this book to be interesting, sad and a little creepy to read. This is the story of June and Jennifer gibbons, identical twins living in the UK. They did not communicate with anyone, only each other. They had a secret language and grew up to commit multiple crimes. They eventually would serve time in prison. This book was originally published in 1986 and it only focuses on the first 20yrs of their lives. It would have been nice if the author did a follow up book about these girls. June rejoined society a year after her sister’s death. She lives in the U.K. close to her family and, no longer linked to Jennifer, engages freely with anyone willing to listen. June described the girls’ time at Broadmoor as twelve years of hellFollowing a trial at Swansea Crown Court, June and Jennifer pleaded guilty to 16 counts of burglary, theft, and arson and were sentenced to indefinite detention at Broadmoor under the Mental Health Act. WALLACE: (Reading) We have become fatal enemies in each other's eyes. We feel the irritating deadly rays come out of our bodies, stinging each other's skin. I say to myself, can I get rid of my own shadow - impossible or not possible? Without my shadow, would I die? Without my shadow, would I gain life, be free or left to die? Without my shadow, which I identify with a face of misery, deception, murder.