Hud and Tuesday are living, breathing, squirming examples of the refrain that breaking up is hard to do. And not only is the marriage of the divorced duo asunder, their teenage son Gatling has broken away to follow the rhythms of an itinerant gospel rock band made of four fundamentalist, but less-than-angelic, beauties called Daughters of God. The erstwhile couple's eight-year-old daughter Nina is the one generous helping of sugar in their bittersweet lives. And Hud toys with the notion of kidnapping the child, hoping that she will act as the magnet that will draw his splintered family back together.

The Singing Dancing Daughters of God is a funny and heart-strumming tale about a night club piano player enamored with country music, old movies and a family he just cannot get a grip on. With a one-of-a-kind point-of-view, Timothy Schaffert's novel looks out on loves lost and found again and lives tangled and sorted out. He has composed a tale of everyday tragedy as real and frustrating as any cataclysmic world event. And he has written story of hope as palpable as sunshine.