Alexandria, VA – Review: When We Were Twins
Publisher: Plamen Press
Author: Danuta Hinc
Reviewed by: Ralph Peluso, Literary Editor
Zebra Rating: 5 Stripes
Danuta Hinc’s novel, When We Were Twins, changes perspective on both what it means to be a twin, and also on views of a culture in this gripping, deeply graphic yet inspiring novel about a young Egyptian boy and his internal struggles during his passionate journey into Islam.
When I asked her why she took on such a polarizing issue in this way, Hinc said, “I chose twins because they offered the novel its governing structure of perception. Twins share origins and yet become distinct, which makes them an ideal lens for examining how difference is produced, narrated, and weaponized. In the book, ‘twins’ is not only a biological motif but a comparative one. Religions and cultures can function as mirrors, reflections of each other’s fears, desires, and metaphysical questions, while insisting on irreconcilable separation. The tragedy is often not ‘difference’ itself, but the refusal to recognize resemblance.”
The author opens the story with the tension and graphic violence of the Six-Day War as a backdrop for the birth of fraternal twins, Aisha and her brother Taher. He becomes an ardent student, memorizing the Quran by age 6. Taher is exposed to a mixture of Islamic radicalism and political dissent by his cousin Ahmed who, along with hundreds of others, is sent to prison after the assassination of Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat. Taher travels to Afghanistan, while there joining the mujahideen to fight against the Soviet incursion and occupation. At times Taher seems to wish to live a normal life with Aisha in a peaceful bourgeois style. But radical ideologies and violent political resistance draw him in.
This is where the common perceptions of Islam, Arab, and Persian culture, and radicalization intersect and create confusion. Hinc clarified, “I would begin by untangling categories that are frequently conflated. Arab is largely a linguistic and cultural designation. Persian points primarily to Iranian cultural and linguistic heritage, though Iran itself is ethnically diverse. Sunni and Shia are branches within Islam, and they intersect with nationality, ethnicity, region, and class in ways that resist any single explanatory map. As for radicalized, it is not a religious identity but a social and political trajectory. It often emerges at the intersection of grievance, humiliation, trauma, propaganda, and power, and it thrives when human beings are reduced to abstractions. The novel does not ask the reader to become a specialist. It asks the reader to resist the convenience of the monolith and to see the so-called other as a person before they are a category.”
Danuta Hinc is a Polish-American novelist. She holds an MA in philology from the University of Gdansk and an MFA in writing from Bennington College. She teaches writing at the University of Maryland. Danuta enjoys writing reflective essays, including travel-based meditations published at danuta.substack.com. She is working on a novel, Sisters, set between Poland and the US, about archival discoveries and family history, and the aftermath of what remains hidden when private lives collide with political time.
Hinc’s thoughtfully detailed novel inculcates classic sentiment about twins in society: a mixture of romanticism, wonderment, inquisitiveness, a double blessing; built-in friends with a magical bond. To a different perspective: everything done is in a mirror; we’re all twins. “… to truly see, you must see yourself in someone else’s heart, and then in yours; we are all twins.” That is a powerful closing ideal to this taut story. A must-read for the inquisitive. 5 Gripping Zebra Stripes
Elaine’s Literary Salon Schedule March 2026
3/1, Sunday, 12-3 p.m. Bonnie Naradzay (Invited to the Feast-Poetry)
3/7, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Writer’s Workshop: The Thriller Writer’s Supernatural System, by Clark Rowenson (Paid/Ticketed event)
3/17, Tuesday, Emil Buchman (Redemption Post Mortem). A pre-recorded, virtual-only event goes live on elainesliterarysalon.com.
3/21, Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Writer’s Workshop: Becoming a Master Writer by John DeDakis (Paid/Ticketed Event)
3/25, Wednesday, 6-9 p.m. Northern Virginia Writers Club Happy hour (Last Wednesday of every month)
