It seems like a story straight out of a fairy tale.
The New York Times reports that Lizzie Valverde and Katy Olson discovered they were sisters during a writing class in January 2013.
Their mother gave birth to the girls as a teenager, and then gave them up for adoption to different families.
Valverde, now 35, ended up living in New Jersey. Olson, 34, grew up mainly in Iowa and Florida.
Both women had a passion for writing and relocated to New York as adults.
Coincidentally they signed up for the same literary-reporting class at Columbia University in 2013, where they sat across the table from each other.
That's when their storytelling lessons turned into a story of their own.
Olson figured out they were sisters when Valverde, who had just registered for the class, introduced herself and described her early childhood.
"It fit together with a lot of stuff that I knew,” Olson said. She had previously researched her birth mother online.
Shocked and surprised, the sisters then spent hours trying to make up for lost time.
Parker told The New York Times she was unable to raise the girls when she gave birth as a teenager due to drug abuse and poverty. "I'm glad I chose to have them and gave them the chance at life,” she said.
Valverde is set to graduate Monday. Her sister and birth mother are expected to attend.
