When Tommy’s parents abandon him as baby, his grandmother Gaga takes him to her reclusive house near the top of Pike’s Peak. When Gaga casts him out, Tommy’s journey takes him to the countryside homestead of Aunt Tess—who hides surprising objects in her fizzy, voluminous hair—to Aunt Penny’s four enormous city houses and her preferred communication by ESP. In the cave-like desert home of Aunt Chelsea, Tommy learns how to hunt coyotes and the proper method of delivering newspapers. Shocked by a secret hidden beneath Aunt Chelsea’s house, Tommy runs off with a mysterious woman he meets on a bus, all while searching for a place to call home.
THE TALE TALL OF TOMMY TWICE captures the innocence of youth and the complexities of contemporary life. It’s a fanciful debut about the wonderment of adventure and the profound effect of family in the increasingly rootless American experience.