The Land of the Forgotten Girls

Sol has had a very difficult life. In the Philippines, her younger sister drowns, her mother dies of cancer, and her father marries a woman who just wants to go to the US. Once in the US, her father leaves the family, and Sol and her sister Ming are left with Vea, who struggles to keep the girls fed and housed in a difficult part of town. Sol has a good friend, Manny, but the two make a bad choice to throw things at students from a nearby private school, and Sol injures Caroline, a girl she has made fun of because she is an albino. Vea yells a lot, and is borderline abusive, so Sol is glad to meet a neighbor, Mrs. Yeung, who takes an interest in her, even if she doesn't speak very much. Ming is obsessed with the mythical Auntie Jove, who isn't real but about whom Sol's mother told her many stories. Ming is sure that this aunt will come and take her and Sol back to the Philippines. Sol occasionally "hears" her sister Amelia talking to her in times of stress, but I would not consider the book a ghost story. Eventually, both sisters must find a way to make their lives better despite their difficult circumstances.