The Foursome
About the Book
The Foursome
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline comes a boldly original reimagining of the astonishing true story of two sisters in 19th-century North Carolina --- Kline’s own distant relatives --- who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.
When Eng and Chang Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they’re not just a curiosity --- they’re a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, they’re looking for wives --- and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge.
Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Adelaide sees in the twins’ fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sarah, quiet and observant, isn’t so sure. When the twins’ lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything --- including race, class, and gender --- is rigidly defined.
Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, THE FOURSOME is both intimate and epic: a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.
The Foursome
- Publication Date: May 12, 2026
- Genres: Family Life, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary
- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Mariner Books
- ISBN-10: 0063097990
- ISBN-13: 9780063097995


