“The Flower Sisters,” by Michelle Collins Anderson, is based on a true story. It recounts the little-known events of a night in 1928, in a small town in the Ozarks, when a deadly fire claimed the lives of 29 of the town’s people.

The fictional town is Possum Flats, Missouri.

The novel first introduces the readers to twin sisters, Rose and Violet Flowers. On the night of the fire, Rose is getting ready to attend a dance at the dance hall in town. Violet is ill and declines to go. After arriving at the dance hall, the attendees hear the music ramping up — it is the beginning of the jazz age, and the Charleston is in vogue, along with flappers and bootleg whiskey.

Without warning, there is a loud explosion from the basement of the dance hall. It sends bodies into the night sky and down again into the fiery pit in what remains of the dance hall.

Charred bodies and severed body parts are strewn yards from the inferno of the dance hall. Rose is killed.

The town is devastated by this event. For 50 years, secrets are hidden, and the events of that night are buried. No one is willing to talk about anything related to that night and what happened afterward. Without anyone suspecting anything to the contrary, Violet assumes Rose’s identity, and everything goes on with no one the wiser.

Violet takes on Rose’s identity, even down to taking on her mannerisms and marrying George, the man, Rose was dating prior to the explosion. She marries George, due in part to the fact she discovers she is pregnant with another man’s child. When the baby is born, they name her Violet.

George’s family owns a mortuary business. For the next 18 years Rose (aka Violet), George, George’s parents and their child live in some semblance of happiness until Violet, whom they call Lettie, can’t stand living in a small town and leaves for parts unknown.

Rose does not hear from her daughter for 15 years until she returns to drop off Rose’s granddaughter, Daisy, for the summer, supposedly while Lettie and her boyfriend head to California.

Daisy, who has never seen her grandmother, is bored to tears in a town where she doesn’t know anyone. And she thinks it’s creepy to live above a funeral parlor. To deal with her boredom, she convinces the local newspaper editor to hire her as the summer intern. He assigns her the task of coming up with a weekly “then and now” type column about the town.

During her research, she uncovers the story of the explosion 50 years ago, and begins delving into the connections between her family and the town’s people, both living and dead. She is determined to uncover the horrors and heroes of that night.

Daisy’s articles, though unpopular with some, strike a chord with others and they realize that it is important to remember the victims while allowing the living to share their stories of that night.

Anderson also brings up the question of: Do people who suffer great tragedy deserve what they get if they are “bad” people? In other words, does God allow people to die because they have it coming to them, as many in Possum Flats believed at the time of the explosion? Did some of the victims deserve to die because they had questionable reputations and morals? The answer is left for the reader to decide.

The novel has richly developed characters dealing with what it means to be vulnerable, to offer and accept forgiveness and ultimately, what it means to come home.