Ballet-mad Katie Rivers lives in a small border town in New Mexico with her eccentric half-Cherokee mother Lola, wisecracking father Haywood, and Kawasaki-crazy brother Rhett, who calls her `a weirdnik in a tutu'.When she turns 15, Katie escapes from her family and boring hometown into the hothouse world of professional dance. Her single-mindedness takes her from a desert backwater to the dance capital of the world. Katie struggles to adapt to the shove and push of New York City as events at home threaten to smash the Rivers household.Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, 'The Double Happiness Company' is a poignant, funny novel about fate, weight and ballet. It exposes a fractured family's secrets, their unspoken love for each other and why home is where the hurt is. - from Amzon