If Wishes Were Horses

the long version

"It's 1974, and sixteen-year-old Star Hennessey is living with three other foster children in a broken-down central New York town. The daughter of an alcoholic prostitute, Star has so far escaped the gritty, painful circumstances of her life through the poems and stories she writes and recites in her head.". "When she discovers she is pregnant, Star's search for the right course of action brings her face-to-face with the cruel exploitation she fears is her legacy, but culminates in her personal and spiritual triumph."--BOOK JACKET.