[LISTENED TO: August 2017] The Trouble with Twins
I grabbed this book because it seemed kind of interesting. I see also that this book was released in the UK as Missing Arabella, which I think is a slightly better title). I wasn’t entirely sure if we’d like it. I mean, we don’t have twins and this is about twins and I wasn’t sure that our 12-year-old boy would like a book about twin girls.
But holy cow was this book outstanding! It was utterly hilarious and the way it was read aloud was genius.
The book begins with this wonderful setup:
And so it begins in front of the fire, the story of two twin sisters. One remains with her family in their lovely country house, where yellow roses perfume the air. The other waits for her in another house, where she stands alone at huge arched windows. She is restless, pacing wooden floors that creak in the night when a cat jumps down from the bed to chase at shadows.
And then in different typeface:
“What are their names?” the girls asks. “The sisters.”
“Arabella and Henrietta.”
“Are they lonely,” asks the girl.
“They belong together,” says the mother. “And it makes them sad to be apart.”
“Can’t you tell a happy story?” the girl asks.
“With puppies and a garden?”
“Yes!” says the girl.
“I’m only telling it the way my mother told it to me,” the mother says.
“And will there be puppies?” the girls persists. “Or only gloomy girls at windows?”
The two typefaces obviously indicate different parts of the story, but in the audio book, there are two readers: and
Alright, but so what’s this all about?
The twins are, as stated Arabella and Henrietta. Even though they are twins, Arabella was always somehow prettier and sweeter and warmer. And everyone fawned over her, including their parents and their nanny. The girls got along wonderfully–they played together, had a secret bond and knew each other’s thoughts and dreams. But as they got older, Arabella started making friends while Henrietta did not. Arabella became very popular while Henrietta did not.
Arabella was never mean to Henrietta about her own popularity and Henrietta never really minded that her sister was invited to things that she wasn’t–it was just sort of accepted. Arabella went to parties and Henrietta waited for her to return, and they would instantly revisit the game they were playing.
But one day, Arabella had to end a game early because of a party and things quickly came to head with Arabella shouting that Henrietta didn’t have any friends Things got ugly very quickly between them. Until one night, Henrietta hid a pair of scissors.
I love that the girl interrupts thinking that Henrietta means to kill her sister. But no, she just means to cut her sister’s hair. Which she does.
And when her parents see what happened to their precious baby girl, they send Henrietta away to live with her Aunt Priscilla.
Priscilla is a weird eccentric old lady. She lives in a gray mansion, dresses all in black and hasn’t been outside of her house in decades.
When Henrietta Arrives, Priscilla is unkind to her and forces her to start cooking meals (something which Henrietta knows nothing about). And the meals! Heart and fish head stew!
Obviously, Henrietta is quite unhappy. But Arabella also proves to be very unhappy without her twin nearby. Despite the fight they still love each other and their bond is very strong. Arabella hopes Henrietta will come back soon. But in the mean time she is having horrible nightmares–nightmares about where Henrietta is living (although she doesn’t know that exactly). The first night apart is dreadful with Arabella screaming in her sleep and no one else being able to rest at all.
And so, with some help from her classmates (who all love her) Arabella plans to visit her sister–even though she has no idea how to get there. She ditches school one day and heads off….north.
And that’s when the story starts to get really funny, for Arabella’s adventures are slightly hard to believe (even if the mother assures the girl that they are true).
The girl is sure that Priscilla is a witch (and says so many times), but the mother assures her that there are no witches in this story. Even when Arabella runs into a giant. How can there be giants but no witches? The mother tells the daughter that the giant was just a boy with a hormone problem.
On Arabella’s journey, she learns bits about Priscilla’s past from the people she encounters–Priscilla is a well-known figure in those parts. At the same time Henrietta (who has no idea Arabella has come looking for her) also discovers some details of Priscilla’s past as well.
In fact, while Arabella is having a very difficult time on her journey, Henrietta is actually having a pretty good time. Priscilla is warming up to her and she meets a book ship owner, Inez, who treats her kindly and even offers her a job one day a week.
But the real humor comes when the twin’s mother and father realize that their precious girl is missing. The principal of the school gets involved. The Assistant principal the school gets involved. As does the chief of police (who is hilariously inept at consoling grieving parents).
The story interrupts itself a little to talk about the assistant principal. He is a pompous boor who thinks of himself as the principal (he is reminded several times that he is not). But he has a romantic side. He is crazy for the school librarian Miss Dewey (the girl is in disbelief that the librarian’s name is Dewey, like the System, but the mother assures her it was so). There is a very funny sequence in which Mr Northington tries to woo Miss Dewey with an impromptu meal (she is horrified that he would bring food into the school library!) He imagines that he and Miss Dewey will ride on his tandem bicycle together (which the girl thinks is crazy). But Miss Dewey is not swayed and Northington needs a new plan
Much of the story is given over t o Arabella’s journey. The strange characters she meets–like the woman who asks too many questions and then, of course, the giant. The giant’s name is Gus and we learn about him and his parents–they are hilariously dysfunctional, and the fight they get into as soon as we meet them is very funny indeed.
Mr Northington hears about the missing girl and he wants to get involved. He believes that if he finds her, he can be a hero and Miss Dewey will never be able to say no.
The chief of police wants to make some Missing posters, and so the girls’ mother, who is a painter, makes some herself. The fact that she is a terrible painter is very funny too. The posters are pretty useless, but Northington wants to help so he hangs them up. Until he realizes that the fewer people who help the fewer people will have a chance to save the day (and claim the growing reward).
When the parents think of a reward, they think of Priscilla, who has some money stashed away. And so they decide to ask her for help and thus, everyone piles into the car to go to Priscilla’s–including the yappy Muffin. (The interrupting girl ask what a yappy muffin is, and is told that Muffin is the family lap dog–she says, oh, that’s not what I pictured at all). It’s very funny.
The family asks Priscilla for money, she refuses. Then they ask for her beautiful rung. She refuses But when Henrietta hears that Arabella is missing she warms the heart of Priscilla and the old lady gives in. (This comes after a very funny sequence in which Henrietta passes out and falls down the stairs and no one goes to help her). The mother is so unapologetically mean to Henrietta that it goes from being shocking to hilariously over-the-top.
A detail I won’t mention leads everyone to the hospital. Meanwhile Northington has been stung on his tongue (A hilarious scene) and can’t talk, so he also heads to the hospital. The sequence where he learns Priscilla’s last name and shouts its over and over is outstanding in the audio book–hope it works as well in print.
The story descends into utter slapstick chaos with the interrupting girl calling all kinds of things into question and the mother assuring her that that is how it happened.
Oh my, I was laughing out loud constantly through this book birth at what happened and at the girl’s disbelief.
The story was outstanding, the recording was outstanding and I have looked at some of the illustrations by Júlia Sardà (which obviously we missed with an audio book) and they had a perfect sense of old school fairy tale.
The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the ending. Not the way the mother and daughter part ended, which I thought was really cool. Nor the epilogues for most of the characters which were funny or clever. It was the final (very short) chapter in the book. A little coda about the girls which was a little slight and unsatisfying. But you can’t have everything (and endings usually don’t satisfy anyone).
But everything else was just fantastic.
I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from Kathryn Siebel–I also can’t believe this was her first book!
For ease of searching, I include: Julia Sarda.
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