We were identical in body alone, down to the least little mole, like a bug squashed on bleached linen sheet, on our right sides, but in spirit—Lord!! In spirit we were in opposite land.”
-- Yvonne (chapter 1)

Importance: This is Yvonne’s starting point. Yvonne argues early on that she and her sister were completely different people save for their physical similarities, down to the moles on their skin, from being twins. As Yvonne explores the world of wealth, sexuality, and sophistication in France and her sister pursues a humble life of piety, self-mortification, and quiet devotion in Colombia, Yvonne discovers as the two open up more and more to each other in letters that the sisters share much in their temperament as well, the yearning for something broader and bigger than the narrow life they lived in Texas, for instance, the need to serve others, a forgiving heart, and a hunger for...