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Writers from William Shakespeare to Angela Carter and George RR Martin have been been inspired by the doubled lives of these familial pairsI am not a twin, but as a child I had an imaginary twin sister who would accompany me everywhere and agree with everything I said. Of course, I can see my naivety now: I had conflated “twin” with “ideal friend”, another version of yourself who is perfectly in harmony with you. But sibling relationships are rarely straightforward, and twins aren’t magically protected from the tensions created by weird family dynamics, clashing personalities and too much time spent in close proximity with each other.When a twin relationship deteriorates, the breakdown can feel all the more marked because there was a greater expectation of closeness in the first place. With this in mind, I set out to explore twins in conflict in my novel I’m Sorry You Feel That Way. Continue reading...