Tending to Grace, by Kimberly Newton Fusco, 2004

Cornelia’s stuttering makes those around her look away, including her mother, who ultimately fades away from mothering her ninth-grade daughter. When the mother and her boyfriend light out for Vegas, they leave Corny with her great-aunt Agatha in a tumbledown New England farmhouse, and neither of the unwilling new roommates seems suited to the other. Young adult realism poetically and sensitively written; Cornelia’s voice on the page is as true as her spoken voice is halting. Strongly recommended.