THE TWIN SISTERS

by Justus Miles Forman

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1916

About the author

Justus Miles Forman (November 1, 1875 – May 7, 1915) was an American novelist and playwright.

His only play, The Hyphen, appeared in 1915 but did not receive the success Forman expected. The Hyphen was a topical drama about "German-Americans" and "Irish-Americans" whose patriotism and fidelity to the United States is questioned due to events in Europe during World War I. Forman hoped that the drama would do better business in a production in London and decided to book a first-class passage aboard the RMS Lusitania. Days before he was to board the liner, however, he received a mysterious phone call from a man with a thick German accent who warned him not to board the Lusitania[citation needed]. Forman ignored the phone call and embarked on the Lusitania on May 1, 1915. The Lusitania was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, and Forman was among the 1,198 passengers who perished in the sinking. His body was never recovered.

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging characters and an interesting plot line. I couldn't find an online scan of the book and so read the serialized version in 1915-1916 volumes of Cosmopolitan (Cosmo used to be a literary magazine? Who knew? Rather stunning to consider how far it has fallen). Because of that, the story felt rather light—more like a lengthy short story than a complete novel. But since it was stretched over eight issues, I guess I trust the long-ago editors of Cosmopolitan wouldn't have cheated their readers. Overall, it was an entertaining read, even if I did find the heroine a bit too good to be true at times.