“Twister Country” gives the reader a look into family life in the Ozarks, touching upon the universal themes of love and hate, sex and violence, despair and redemption. The story comes to life through three characters: a twelve-year-old girl who retains her innocence despite incest with her brother and the heavy-handed control of her mother: the mother seeks love in backwoods honky-tonks while trying to overcome the stigma of divorce; and the man she ultimately marries, a solitary half-breed Indian, is beset by the ghosts of his dead Confederate grandfather, his Choctaw grandmother and a town that no longer gives him the respect he feels is his due. The three create a volatile mix as each attempts to fulfill their hopes and dreams.