Test Pattern: A Novel

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 discovers that she--and only she -- can see glimpses of the future within the hypnotic test pattern: snippets from President Kennedy's assassination, the landing on the moon, the O.J. Simpson trial. Meanwhile, her family goes haywire. Her mother decides to pursue her dream of becoming a famous tap dancer, while her shipyard-worker father plunges into depression.

Brilliantly re-creating the innocence and energy of that time, this magical tale offers a witty reflection on the troubled path to fame, a child's awakening to the world, and the tangled web of the family.

Raised in Newport News, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., Marjorie Klein is a freelance writer whose subjects have ranged from Harley-Davidson to the Holocaust Museum, drugs to malls, Lubavitch Jews to retired circus freaks. She has taught creative writing at Florida International University and lives with her husband, Don, in Coconut Grove, Florida.