Test pattern

the long version

"When a new TV set arrives in the Palmer household in Newport News, Virginia, in 1954, change is in the wind. Eleven-year-old Cassie has a secret. Only she can see moments from the future within the hypnotic test pattern: snippets from President Kennedy's assassination, the Beatles' debut, man's landing on the moon, the O. J. Simpson trial. Meanwhile, inspired by the popular entertainers television has brought into their home, Cassie's starstruck mother, Lorena, decides to pursue her dream of becoming famous as a tap dancer.". "Lorena soon plunges into an affair with an old flame whose cousin happens to be a talent scout for Arthur Godfrey and risks her marriage to Cassie's father, a depressed, accident-prone shipyard worker. As Lorena learns that the path to fame and fortune is strewn with obstacles, Cassie's own eyes are being opened to the world outside of provincial Newport News - and to the even richer world within herself."--BOOK JACKET.