"Dream When You're Feeling Blue" by Elizabeth Berg explores life on the homefront during World War II, as seen through the eyes of the three Irish-American Heaney sisters from Chicago. Kitty, Louise, and Tish each have differing conflicts, and Berg masterfully divides time between each character. Kitty, for example, does not merely sit home and weep about her lad off at war. Instead, she works a hard job at a manufacturing plant. In the end, Berg illuminates this oft-forgotten era in U.S. history, while also beautifully recreating a slice of Irish-American life. ($24.95 / 288 pages / Random House)