a"Regina Louise's mother abandoned her at birth, her father barely knows she's alive, and even the state isn't there to protect her from the horrors unfolding daily in the illegal foster home where her mother left her. Clothed in rags, fed just enough food to keep her alive, and beaten at the slightest pretext, she makes a pact with God: If the beatings get worse, she'll know she is meant to leave. But when at age eleven Regina runs away from the only home she has ever known, her circumstances become only crueler." "She finds herself in the unloving hands of her mother, her father, and, finally, the courts. Now in the "system," Regina is sent from foster home to temporary shelter and back again, until she's lived in too many places to count. Along the way she strives to make her life better, saving her mother's last kiss in a crumpled tissue for as long as she can, and knowing, in her heart, that she deserves better. Eventually, with no parent willing to claim her, Regina is sent to a highly regimented children's shelter that is rumored to be the last stop before a mental institution. It is here, in this unlikely setting, that she finds something so powerful and transcendent that her years of suffering almost disappear: Regina finds someone to love her."--BOOK JACKET.