Twist finding family at the heart of Dickens (4)
I believe the answer is:
kink
'twist' is the definition.
(I know that twist can be written as kink)
'family at the heart of dickens' is the wordplay.
'family' becomes 'kin' (synonyms).
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'the heart of' indicates the central letters.
The centre of 'dickens' is 'k'.
'kin'+'k'='KINK'
'finding' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for kink that I've seen before include "Idiosyncrasy - sharp bend" , "Eccentricity" , "Quirk of behaviour" , "Twisted loop in string" , "Bend or twist" .)