Cloud Dancer

Eileen hates her defeated, joyless family and their poverty. She wants a guitar more than she's ever wanted anything--badly enough to believe her shiftless father when he says he'll get her one. Her sister, Deirdre, laughs at her for believing his tired promises. Her mother has no patience for selfish dreams. Life means only struggle for her: raising her daughters and eight-year-old Neal, whose stuttering has become something forbidden to mention.

When Eileen and Neal meet Liz, a college st...