Diary of a Lone Twin

A Memoir

By: David Loftus

Narrated by: Ben Allen

A heart-rending memoir of love, loss and the unique relationship twins share.

More than thirty years ago, David Loftus’s cherished identical twin, John, passed away. Ever since, a day hasn’t passed without David feeling the loss. In 1987, after recovering from a brain tumour, John contracted meningitis and found himself back in hospital for treatment. David, as always, was by his side. They were opening their twenty-fourth birthday presents when a fatally miscalculated routine injection forced John into a coma. He died within two weeks.

Over the past year, David has spent an hour every day remembering John and recording his story by hand. Diary of a Lone Twin is the product of that daily ritual – a powerful and deeply personal account that covers everything from enchanting and charmingly evoked childhood vignettes to the acute loneliness and raw pain that followed John’s death.

In sharing this beautifully written diary, award-winning and internationally acclaimed photographer David Loftus provides a rare insight for anyone who wishes to understand the bond between identical twins, and the unique bereavement of a lone twin that few people will ever experience.

Critic reviews

Hauntingly powerful

These diary entries fuel this moving exploration into the unique bond between twins and the grief when one dies.

Poignant and powerful (Caroline Sanderson)

A beautifully written memoir full of poignancy, humour and wisdom. The conceit of using a diary written in the present as a touching off point for the reminiscences works excellently and adds a novelistic richness to what is already a powerful, stirring and uplifting testament to love. (Ray Celestin, award-winning author of The Axeman's Jazz)

Beautiful, emotional and somehow funny at times...David has put together something really special here, because of course there is such sadness, but mostly, there is love. (Dawn O'Porter)

This is as beautiful an account of loss as you will ever read, haunting and at times unbearably heart wrenching. A tribute to a lost brother and an excavation of the human heart in all its shades of light and dark. A gem. (Rebecca Frayn)

A gentle book by a gentle man about the loss of a twin brother. An intimate, searingly honest, deeply upsetting but also uplifting story of loss and love. (Prue Leith)