Jana Meehan

Left Turn, Right Turn Jana Meehan

Joe MacDonald has some growing up to do. At 17, his broken relationship with his distant, uninvolved father has led him into some bad choices and trouble with law enforcement. Now it's the summer of 1992, and his choices have gotten him exiled to rural Sylvia, Missouri to work on his grandparents' farm. Joe doesn't want to go, but he learns fast that his grandmother, who grew up in Nazi Germany, and his grandfather who came out of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, have much to share about maturity, humanity, and the call to invest in people, help them and support them, when the chance arises. He meets Sarah whose boyfriend runs a methamphetamine lab at the start of the meth epidemic. He meets Jamal, a young man his own age whose richly developed relationship with his own father strikes a chord of envy in Joe. He meets Chelsea, beautiful, young, desirable and curiously mixed up. Her relationship with her father is the most troubled of all. As the summer progresses, Joe learns to find value in his own labor, in the worldview born of his grandparents' experiences, and in the family mission to put others ahead of himself. He learns that people are more important than a good time, and that his love for animals has worth and meaning. But as Joe grows and matures, the meth crisis is tightening its grip on the county, and one drug kingpin's enforcer learns about Joe, putting him, his friends and family at risk just as a violent tornado descends on the farmhouse. Read Left Turn, Right Turn, because the small turns we make can change the road ahead.