maggie's ruse

A 2020 Eric Hoffer Award Honorable Mention in General Fiction Maggies Ruse is the story of identical twin sisters Maggie and Marta Dugan. According to an Eric Hoffer Awards judge Anne Leigh Parrish delivers astute insight big characters a snappy pace...with subtle subtexts and zinger truths.Maggie and Marta Dugan twenty-seven-year-old identical twins live the good life in New York City on their stepfathers money. Each has a glamorous calling. Maggie paints; Marta appears onstage. Success though eludes them. Martas roles are few and far between. Maggies endorsements are infrequent at best. When gallery after gallery passes on her work she begins to doubt her talent. Home alone one afternoon fueled by frustration she is seized by a sudden wild impulse to masquerade as Marta when a friend of hers drops by. The ruse is quickly discovered when Marta returns from another shopping spree a rift between the sisters ensues and they go their separate ways. But living apart proves harder than either thought at first. Each carries the other firmly within her making any true independence nearly impossible. As the weeks pass the weight of absence sometimes becomes difficult to bear. Both find a surprising degree of success in their respective efforts due perhaps to their newfound freedom yet the bond between them remains firm. Can they come back together and under what circumstances would a reunion be viable? Has the time come for an open discussion of their issues with each other? Unable to fully answer these questions each knows only that she needs the other to feel whole.