When We Were Twins

Danuta Hinc

From their privileged childhood in Egypt, the paths of once-inseparable twins Taher and Aisha diverge early:

When the USSR invades Afghanistan, Taher abandons their shared plans to study medicine in Europe, instead joining their cousin, Ahmed, as a medic for the mujahideen fighting the Soviets. As Aisha’s Western perspective grows, so does her fear for her brother, who is becoming increasingly radicalized during the civil war between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. With powerful imagery, Danuta Hinc’s When We Were Twins shows how innocence and loyalty to those we love can be twisted by political forces, leading a young man to choose a fateful path that changes the course of history.

“The questions Hinc’s novel explores—about love and war, about family, peace, and the price of freedom—couldn’t be more urgent. Her imagination revs at full throttle, and we would be wise to go along for the ride.”

— ASKOLD MELNYCZUK, author of The Man Who Would Not Bow

“Infused with urgency and propelled by a sense of the world in catastrophe mode.”

— SVEN BIRKERTS, author of Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age

“A deceptively simple novel brimming with visions and allegories. Hinc has created a work of historical imagination.”

— MARIA BUSTILLOS

Advanced Praise for When We Were Twins

Askold Melnyczuk

History has many cunning passages and contrived corridors, wrote T.S. Eliot, and Danuta Hinc takes us down several such dark alleys as she explores the human realities behind the so-called “War on Terror.” Along the way she reveals just how intricate and surprising the weave of history has become, or perhaps has always been. The threads here twine from Egypt to Poland to Afghanistan to Palestine/Israel, and many places in between. The questions her novel explores--about love and war, about family, peace, and the price of freedom—couldn’t be more urgent. Hinc’s imagination here revs at full throttle, and we would be wise to go along for the ride. (Askold Melnyczuk is author of "The Man Who Would Not Bow")

Sven Birkerts

Infused with urgency and propelled by a sense of the world in catastrophe mode, Danuta Hinc’s "When We Were Twins" exposes the tangled fates of people caught up in events they cannot control. The prose finds its pulse right from the start and the reader feel its animating force throughout. (Sven Birkerts is author of "Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age")

Maria Bustillos

In this deceptively simple novel brimming with visions and allegories, Hinc has created a mystical work of historical imagination. Ultimately, "When We Were Twins" confronts us with a demand that politics, religion, and the rise and fall of nations be understood as a single, tragic human story.

Michael Scott Moore

Danuta Hinc has produced a lushly written, intricate drama between a radicalized Muslim and a Polish fellow traveler who encounter each other in Afghanistan as well as New York City. It’s a startling and unexpected novel about friendship and terrorism, love and hate, forgiveness and its opposite. (Michael Scott Moore is author of "The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast")

Dennis L. Winston

"When We Were Twins" is both a troubling and beautifully written story. It is a brilliant and complex tale of the human experience at the intersection of identity and ideology. Effortlessly compassionate, the novel restores our sense of humanity even in the face of senseless and irrational violence. Hinc’s writing is instantly enthralling with its vivid imagery and powerfully convincing characters. She captures her readers in a world that is both distant and familiar. (Dennis L. Winston is Editor-in-chief of Words Beats & Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture)

Kirkus Review

Taher is a memorable protagonist…A psychological snapshot of radicalization, intelligently charted by the author…

About the Author

Danuta Hinc is a Polish American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She holds an MA in Philology from the University of Gdańsk, where she won Poland’s National Competition for Best Dissertation in the Humanities, and she received an MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College, where she was awarded the Barry Hannah Merit Scholarship in Fiction. She teaches writing at the University of Maryland.