Identical Strangers

A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited

By: Elyse Schein, Paula Bernstein

Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Effie Johnson

This is the astonishing true story of Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein, who shared a personal history for more than three decades - and didn't know it. In her mid-30s, Schein finally decided to call an adoption agency to learn about her biological mother. Not expecting much, she instead got the surprise of her life. Her identical twin sister, Bernstein, lived just minutes away.©2007 Paula Bernstein; 2007 Elyse Schein (P)2007 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"A transfixing memoir." ( Publishers Weekly)

Heartwarming story

I LOVE this book!
This book is completely fascinating, with many surprises that will make you gasp out loud.
I loved how the writing intertwined facts, statistics, stories of other twins, along with the story of how Paula & Elyse grew up & found each other "again".
Like another reviewer, I also felt like I got to know Paula and Elyse and Googled them and so I finished the book to get any updates in their lives.
Please give this book a listen, it is a truly wonderful story.

So good, and so awful that it is actually true!

Really good presentation of a "study" that should never have been done, the effects on the subjects, and the families who were never given the choices they should have had. Eye opening!

Very Enjoyable

What an interesting listen! I really enjoyed the subject, content and the way in which Elyse and Paula chose to craft their story. Ok, that's doesn't tell you much. How about this? These two women in their mid thirties find out that they have a sister, but not just a sister...in fact, one with whom they shared a womb for 9 months!After they locate and meet one another, they "join forces" to track down the circumstances around their separation. The story is told from each twin's perspective in alternating segments. You will learn about them, other separated twins (& triplets), the adoption process, and other very interesting biological and psychological facts. Believe me, this could have been a very boring subject...but it is NOT. I'm still thinking about them and have checked out their web site to see how they are because I feel as though I know them. The narrators are excellent..I thought perhaps the girls had read their own parts, but they had not. The narrators are very convincing though and it doesn't take long to know who is who by the voicing. If you're interested in twins and want a good story, listen to this.

I love twin stories separated at birth

Written very well, I enjoyed listening to it. I’m going to look for some more twin stories after reading this I couldn’t stay off YouTube, looking at all the different separated at birth twin stories.

What if you are a twin and don't know it?

There were many things about this book I enjoyed. Narration was excellent - having two separate voices made it easier to distiguish who was who. I found this book inforatively factual when it came to the details of this adoption case. Being a fellow adoptee I really enjoyed the twins personal insight into their reunion thoughts and feelings.