God's Fool
Condition: SECONDHAND
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Their birth was greeted by the sound of midwives screaming. The two children looked perfect in every way, just two normal Siamese boys - except for the skin joining them at the chest. They were Chang and Eng: the first Siamese Twins. A typhoon, when the twins were seventeen, marked the beginning of their travels: their devastated mother sold them to an opium trader, bound for Europe, to ensure their safety. For a short time they were an entertaining spectacle - but the fickleness of fashion cast them asunder. Soon they were penniless and starving, trawling the flophouses of London. Until, that is, a chance meeting with Phineas T. Barnum. Packed off to America with an entourage of bearded ladies and German midgets, they became famous before settling as slave owners and farmers - where they finally found peace. But that peace was to be threatened, however, by the looming spectre of the Civil War, its shadow signalling their final battle with fate.
Author: Mark Slouka
Format: Paperback, 288 pages, 130mm x 198mm, 200 g
Published: 2008, Pan Macmillan, United Kingdom
Genre: True Stories
Description
Their birth was greeted by the sound of midwives screaming. The two children looked perfect in every way, just two normal Siamese boys - except for the skin joining them at the chest. They were Chang and Eng: the first Siamese Twins. A typhoon, when the twins were seventeen, marked the beginning of their travels: their devastated mother sold them to an opium trader, bound for Europe, to ensure their safety. For a short time they were an entertaining spectacle - but the fickleness of fashion cast them asunder. Soon they were penniless and starving, trawling the flophouses of London. Until, that is, a chance meeting with Phineas T. Barnum. Packed off to America with an entourage of bearded ladies and German midgets, they became famous before settling as slave owners and farmers - where they finally found peace. But that peace was to be threatened, however, by the looming spectre of the Civil War, its shadow signalling their final battle with fate.
God's Fool