-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Hayley Jo Zimmerman is gone. Taken. And the people of small-town Twisted Tree must come to terms with this terrible event—their loss, their place in it, and the secrets they all carry.
In this brilliantly written novel, one girl's story unfolds through the stories of those who knew her. Among them, a supermarket clerk recalls an encounter with a disturbingly thin Hayley Jo. An ex-priest remembers baptizing Hayley Jo and seeing her with her best friend, Laura, whose mother the priest once loved. And Laura berates herself for all the running they did, how it fed her friend’s addiction, and how there were so many secrets she didn't see. And so, Hayley Jo’s absence recasts the lives of others and connects them, her death rooting itself into the community in astonishingly violent and tender ways.
"Starred Review. [A] beautiful and unsettling new novel...the novel is brimming with arresting descriptions, and the western setting is employed to surprising effect...[a] small masterpiece." - Publishers Weekly
"Though identified as a 'novel' on the title page, this is more accurately a collection of loosely related short stories, all set in or near Twisted Tree in western South Dakota....Recommended for readers of good literary fiction set in the American West." - Library Journal
"Terrific opening, terrific close, but a bumpy ride in between." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about Twisted Tree was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kent Meyers is the author of The Work of Wolves, Light in the Crossing, The River Warren, and The Witness of Combines. He is a recipient of an ALA Alex award, two Minnesota Book awards, and a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association award. His work has been included in the New York Times list of Notable Books and is published in a wide array of prestigious magazines.
If you liked Twisted Tree, try these:
by Kai Strittmatter
Published 2021
Hailed as a masterwork of reporting and analysis, and based on decades of research within China, We Have Been Harmonized, by award-winning correspondent Kai Strittmatter, offers a groundbreaking look at how the internet and high tech have allowed China to create the largest and most effective surveillance state in history.
by Mara Hvistendahl
Published 2021
A riveting true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is pursued by the U.S. government for trying to steal trade secrets, by a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction.
Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother
by Xue Xinran
Published 2012
Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother is powered by love and by heartbreak and will stay with readers long after they have turned the final page.
If every country had to write a book about elephants...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
