The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice: A Novel
by Nathan Leslie
Fiction, Trade Paperback Original
ISBN 978-0-9840405-0-6
5.25 x 8 in/204 pages
Publication Date: October 30, 2012
“[A] whimsical story full of magic and exaggeration worthy of Mark Twain or Washington Irving.” – Charles Rammelkamp, Chamber Four
When Tommy’s parents abandon him as a baby, his grandmother Gaga takes him to her reclusive house at the top of Pike’s Peak. Gaga’s parenting methods are extreme, but Tommy soon learns her eccentricities are nothing compared to the rest of his family. As he’s passed between his outlandish aunts, Tommy’s journey takes him to the country homestead of Aunt Tess (who hides surprising objects in her voluminous hair), the four city houses of Aunt Penny (who prefers to communicate by ESP), and the cave-like desert home of Aunt Chelsea the coyote hunter. As his cross-country romp reveals how bizarrely different families can be, Tommy begins to wonder if the conventional home he’s dreamed of might not be for him after all.
The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice captures the unmoored feelings of young adulthood and the complexities of American identity. It’s a dazzling novel about the ineffability of childhood and the nature of family and relationships in the increasingly rootless American experience.
Praise for Tommy Twice:
— Lee K. Abbott, All Things, All at Once: New & Selected Stories
— Novelist Richard Burgin, founder and editor, Boulevard
— Valerie Fox, The Rorschach Factory
— Lynda Schor, author of Seduction (Spuyten Duyvil Press)
— John Dufresne, Requiem, Mass.
About the Author
Nathan Leslie is the author of seven story collections and former fiction editor at Pedestal Magazine. The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice is his debut novel.