Twins is the second novel by German author, Dirk Kurbjuweit to be translated into English. Eleven-year-old Johann desperately needs a friend, and when Ludwig transfers in from another school, he hopes he’s found one. “Friends were like mirrors, and we only existed as reflections. The longer your list of telephone numbers, the more important you felt. We asked everyone we met for their number and were eager to give ours. Then we waited for the phone to ring”

Ludwig lives close to, almost under the big motorway bridge over the river, with his parents and his younger sister, Vera. Ludwig is rather exciting, in a strange way, and Johann is soon hooked. They watch his dad working on motorbikes, and they begin to do everything together. During Johann’s first sleepover, something very strange happens.

By the time they are sixteen, they have determined they will go through every life experience in tandem, to become as identical as possible. It’s for a very good reason: if they are to defeat the Potsdam twins is the coxless pairs rowing championship, they need to be completely in synch with each other. They need to know each other inside out, to know everything about each other. And it works. It works, until they are almost eighteen, and Johann has an experience he doesn’t share with his best friend.

In this short novel (a mere 155 pages) Kurbjuweit deftly portrays apparently typical teens whose relationship is, initially, not overtly dysfunctional. Ludwig starts out sort of charming and charismatic, and by the time he becomes subtly manipulative, Johann has lost all objectivity. The plot is believable; the climax, rather chilling. Kurbjuweit’s tale touches on peer pressure, true friendship and the overwhelming adolescent need for approval and acceptance. Flawlessly translated from German by Imogen Taylor, this is a compelling read.