Home » My Bookshelf » Tell Me Who I Am: Sometimes It’s Safer Not To Know
Tell Me Who I Am is the memoir of identical twins Alex and Marcus Lewis — and one of the most psychologically unsettling true stories I’ve ever read.
When Alex was 18, a motorcycle accident left him in a coma for six weeks. When he woke up, he had lost every memory of his life — except one: his twin brother Marcus. He didn’t recognise his own mother. He didn’t know his own name. He had to relearn everything from scratch, with Marcus as his only guide to who he was.
And Marcus made a choice. He told Alex almost everything. Almost.
For twenty years, Marcus kept a devastating secret about their childhood — a secret involving serious abuse within what appeared to be a respectable English family. When their mother died, Alex started asking questions Marcus wasn’t ready to answer. The search for the truth takes up the second half of the book and is where Tell Me Who I Am becomes genuinely hard to put down.
What makes this memoir so unsettling isn’t just what happened. It’s the ethical weight of what Marcus did — and why. Was it protection, or denial? Love, or a lie? You’ll be asking yourself that long after you finish the last page. I was in awe of these characters, their strength to overcome the past together, and their unusual life story. I’m glad I got the chance to know more about them.
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Categories: Non-fiction, True Crime, Memoires and Biographies
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Awards Tell Me Who I am has won:
As of our last update in September 2021, the book itself had not received any major awards. However, please keep in mind that our information might be outdated. To find the most up-to-date and accurate information about any awards the book may have received, we recommend checking reputable literary award websites, book industry news sources, and official author or publisher websites.
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More about the authors:
Born in 1964, both Alex and Marcus Lewis experienced their early years in London and Sussex before the tragic accident happened. Following the publication of their memoir in 2013, both Alex and Marcus took the courageous step of sharing their journey during an interview on ITV’s This Morning. As time went on, these twin brothers ventured into new phases of life as they tied the knot and began their own families. Additionally, they found success in the business realm and established themselves as proprietors of the exquisite Fundu Lagoon boutique hotel. The luxurious hotel is located on the enchanting African island of Pemba.
Reflecting on their journey, Alex, who was 49 at the time, emphasized, “We are both married, we both have children. You can move forward. These harrowing things can happen to you, but we’ve all got the opportunity to put that aside and live our lives.” Therefore, this sentiment resonates with their remarkable journey of resilience and renewal, which serves as an inspiration to others facing challenges.
Their first book, Tell Me Who I Am, is co-written by ghostwriter Joanna Hodgkin who has written 11 novels, from psychological thrillers to historicals. Her work has been translated into more than 8 languages, and the memoir she wrote of her mother, Amateurs in Eden, The Story of a Bohemian Marriage, was published in 2012 to widespread acclaim. Joanna lives in London today and teaches history at Somerville College.
Read this if…
You’ve ever wondered what your family isn’t telling you.
You believe memory shapes who we are.
You’ve had to rebuild your identity after something broke it.
You’re drawn to stories about surviving the unsurvivable.
You want to understand why hiding pain never makes it disappear.
Maybe skip it if you’re not ready to sit with something deeply uncomfortable. This book doesn’t look away — and neither will you.
Lisanne's review:
“It is an interesting idea how a seemingly great solution – losing all your bad and traumatic memories – isn’t a solution to the problems at all. As this documentary implies, emotions cannot be controlled, and by hiding certain emotions or painful experiences they aren’t cleaned up at all.”
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The book Tell Me Who I Am by Alex and Marcus Lewis is now on my list of recommended reads. Find more details about the book here:
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Hodder & Stoughton
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Reviews for Tell Me Who I Am from Insiders:
Five stars!
I was able to read this book and it touched me to the core and I came out of it as a changed person. Very few books have ever had that effect on me, and it is relevant on so many levels. It will encourage people to be true to themselves and not keep dark secrets under wraps they suffered as children, often causing pain they carry for a lifetime and in many cases destroy lives – I salut the twins, Marcus and Alex Lewis for their bravery to come forward and share their lives journeys with us. Beautiful job by Hodgkin who tells the story with so much integrity. Even though shocking, this story is inspiring, and empowering and will bring about change. Bravo!
Intriguing coming-of-age story
This is an intriguing coming-of-age story, that reads like a psychological thriller. I have to say that I loved the book more than the documentary, but the story is either way very upsetting yet beautiful. I admire their courage of putting a story that’s so deeply personal out there.
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