Backstory of My Twin in Budapest

Backstory of My Twin in Budapest

Five years ago, my cousin was looking at a stack of old photos at a friend’s house. An image of her friend’s grandmother caught her eye because she thought the lady looked like me, so she sent me a copy of the picture to see what I thought. 

The woman could have been my twin. Her hair was the same color and length as mine, but styled differently. The vintage dress she wore in the photograph was elegant. I would have bought the same dress if I had lived in her day.

Seeing a picture of my doppelganger from another time and place was strange, but in a good way. I instantly felt connected to her and thought it would be nice to meet in person. Sadly, I couldn’t do so because she had already passed away.

Since I had never been to Europe and always wanted to visit, I booked a trip to Budapest for the spring of 2020. I researched all the popular tourist spots and took detailed notes for the book I planned to write upon my return. Then the pandemic hit, and the world shut down. I tinkered with the novel’s storyline and had some major plot points mapped out, but the words wouldn’t come whenever I sat at my desk and tried to write.

Feeling tired, I went to my doctor for my yearly checkup. What started as a routine mammogram led to an ultrasound and a biopsy, where I found out I had breast cancer that had already spread to my underarm lymph nodes. After getting a second opinion, I began treatment, including sixteen rounds of chemotherapy, six months of immunotherapy, and a mastectomy of my left breast. 

I started to feel better once the cancer battle was over. Not quite like I did when I was healthy, but I was cancer-free, and the new normal meant things took a little longer to do. Eventually, I tried working on My Twin in Budapest again. I couldn’t travel to Europe because of medical bills, but I could research everything online and felt confident that I could still do the story justice with the information I found.

While working on My Twin in Budapest, another story came to mind—one I couldn’t ignore because it haunted me day and night. Frustrated, I set aside my unfinished novel once again and began writing The Healing Train, a fictionalized account of my breast cancer journey. Writing the novel was therapeutic, and since its publication, I have received messages from many cancer survivors and their families saying they felt a strong connection to the book. One woman told me she read it during chemotherapy, and it gave her hope.

Finally, I resumed working on My Twin in Budapest. I lost count of how many times I started and stopped this novel, and I even considered abandoning the project because I felt I might not be meant to write this book. 

Budapest research continued, as I could not afford to travel there yet, and little by little, the project got back on track. The main characters spoke to me now, and I could tell their story. Instead of struggling for words, they flowed onto the page. 

As I was nearing the end of the novel, I told my cousin. That’s when I discovered that the woman in the photo wasn’t Hungarian like me. She was from Latvia! I had mistakenly thought she was Hungarian because we looked so much alike. My cousin had lost contact with her friend but recently reconnected and learned more about his late grandmother. She had also fought breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy and had a mastectomy, defeated the disease, and managed to grow old and die from something else.

Dumbfounded, I considered changing the book’s location and making major revisions. Should I write about cancer again since she and I both had it? My heart told me the answer was no. The novel wouldn’t change. Seeing her picture was more inspiration for an uplifting story rather than a retelling of facts. My only hope is that she would enjoy it if she were alive.

Although all my books are emotional and tend to make readers cry, this one is different. It is still women’s fiction but hopeful, full of romance, mystery, and plenty of delicious food scenes. My mom, who is my first reader, says she loves it. However, I worry my regular readers might not, because they expect a more serious kind of story from me.

Thankfully, early reviews are positive. Everyone says they enjoyed reading the book. It made me realize that it’s okay to lighten up once in a while—to let loose and have some fun. Maybe I needed some brightness in my life after everything that happened. Perhaps we all do, given the current state of the world.

Find out more about Kim on her website https://kimcano.com/

MY TWIN IN BUDAPEST

An uplifting women’s fiction novel full of romance, intrigue, and a vacation that shapes destiny.

After being dumped by her fiancé, heartbroken Morgan spends time with her best friend, Amanda, hoping to forget her troubles. While looking through old family photographs together, Morgan notices a picture of Amanda’s grandmother, Veronika. The woman looks just like her. Suddenly, meeting her becomes important. The only problem is that she lives overseas.

On a trip to Budapest, Morgan meets Veronika, who is now eighty years old. As the two women get to know each other, Veronika shares a secret with Morgan about a tragic romance that ended under mysterious circumstances. Discovering what happened becomes Morgan’s obsession. Veronika’s happiness is her number one goal. Morgan thinks that if she can fix Veronika’s life, there may be hope for her own.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers