# In 'The Foursome,' conjoined twins marry two sisters — and that's just the beginning

An episode of [NPR's Book of the Day](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1587369865), 20 Aug 2026, 9:19.

Audio: https://prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-510364/npr.simplecastaudio.com/c3f326c7-02ae-4df0-b95a-b35e58973e1a/episodes/34f602f9-91b2-4f83-9726-35babe25637c/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=c3f326c7-02ae-4df0-b95a-b35e58973e1a&awEpisodeId=34f602f9-91b2-4f83-9726-35babe25637c&feed=tZrJMl4P&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5938866&p=510364&d=559&size=8948969

In 1839, conjoined twins and famous showmen Chang and Eng Bunker — native to Thailand, then called Siam — took a break from touring, settled in North Carolina, bought a slave plantation, and married two American sisters. The interracial union caused a public scandal for more reasons than one, and their story is the inspiration for Christina Baker Kline’s novel The Foursome. In today’s episode, Baker Kline, who is a distant cousin of the twins’ wives, speaks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about exploring the complexity of the foursome’s place in a society that both feared and fetishized them. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

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