A first novel by Geoff Ryman, author of the amazing 253.

Ryman twists three storylines: an orphaned Dorothy Gael arrives in Kansas to an alcoholic Uncle Henry and a Bible-thumping Aunt Em. Things go downhill from there. A young boy obsessed with the Oz books returns as an adult with AIDS to revisit his dreams. And Frances Gumm is transformed into Judy Garland in a terrifying description of showbiz kids.

I got so depressed reading this that I set it down about halfway through. Life in the Midwest at the turn of the last century... who wouldn't mind being snatched up by a cyclone?