Book Description

Twindom is an imaginary community, outside of Nashville, where twins, separated (often by evil forces) are reunited. Most of the residents of Twindom have found each other through the Twindom website. However, some, driven by the circumstances of their existence, must travel through, and be rescued from, the Valley of Despair. Dr. Timothy Franklin and his twin brother, Thomas, a paramedic, usually make the rescues. They are spending Tim's sabbatical together in Twindom, before Tom enters medical school. The first person the Franklin twins rescued, Bob, discovers he has a twin brother when his adopted parents go through a divorce. Bob runs away shortly thereafter to keep from murdering his adopted mother. She was extremely cruel and tried to destroy his artistic bent. He finds himself in Twindom. Six years earlier Donald Brown, an African-American, saw his twin brother, Ronald, kidnapped in broad daylight. Now, a junior in high school, Donald, a trained runner, has developed a severe panic disorder and frequent breaks with reality, in response to the kidnapping. Donald goes off his medication for several days and makes the journey through the Valley of Despair (usually a two or three day trip) in 18 hours. Evil forces separate Margaret Elain Smith from her twin sister and younger brother, after their parents die in a plane crash. Her kidnapers carry her off to an abusive foster home. She escapes after three months. The Franklin twins sedate and bring Margaret Elain into the safety of Twindom. She arrives in Twindom with anorexia, the result of the abuse. Meanwhile, Bill Davis arrives from San Francisco and reunites with Bob. Bill Davis arrives with the Johnson diaries. These will unlock the mystery of the Johnson twins, whose statue stands at the center of the Garden of Hope. Indeed, the development and actions of the Johnson twins are central to this novel. On their sixteenth birthday, March 3, 1840, Levi and Eli Johnson first share with each other their conviction that slavery is wrong, as they walk in the woods behind the Johnson Plantation. Knowing they must take every precaution to keep their thoughts and feelings about slavery secret, especially from their father, Levi suggests they communicate on this subject only in writing. The Johnson twins were nineteen, when they attended their first Quaker meeting. The Quaker spirit was much more in tune with the twins' own gentle spirit. Soon, they secretly embraced the Quaker religion and its teachings against slavery. This step gave the twins an inside track towards fulfilling their larger goal of helping to end slavery everywhere. In 1848, Jeremiah Johnson died leaving to his twins, 100 slaves. Levi and Eli promptly free their slaves, and transform the Johnson Plantation into a haven for escaping slaves. Following the Civil War, the Plantation became a unique orphanage where Black and White children grew up and were educated together. In the 1940's, the Johnson Plantation falls under the control of extreme racists who transform it into a slave state unto itself. As a first step, the new managers separate the youth and children and force the African-Americans into slavery. The process expands as those, who agree with the new stance of the Johnson Plantation kidnap and sell additional African-American youth and children to the Plantation. Kidnapers also deliver White children, especially orphans, to Johnson's Haven. The adults at the plantation school and Johnson's Haven carefully groom the White children to become the future overseers and managers. Kidnapers deliver Mary Ellen and Billy Joe Smith. However, the staff cannot mold the Smith children, the grandchildren of those who worked alongside Martin Luther King, to fit its expectations. Once Bob and Bill Davis expose the slave traffic, the days of the Johnson Plantation are numbered. However, even before the authorities reach the Johnson Plantation, the Franklin twins re