The Story of a Beautiful Girl
May 7, 2011
Author: Rachel Simon
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: May 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-446-57446-4
What a lovely story. It is filled with heartbreak and despair, but there are so many lovely, caring people in here that strive to help others rise above the sorrow that it's a real joy to read. Eye opening in ways that might just help you to look at that odd-acting person on the street a little differently instead of just walking around them in avoidance.
Lynnie, a developmentally slow young girl is placed in an asylum for the retarded at a very young age after her father can no longer tolerate the embarrassment of her. Homan is inadvertently place there also as he's a deaf mute who couldn't communicate when he was placed at the scene of a crime. He couldn't talk or understand the police so they decided he was retarded.
When the book starts they are running away from the asylum and beg hiding at a widow's farm. They also happen to have a baby with them. When the guards catch up with them and go to drag them back to the hell they call home, Homan manages to escape and Lynnie manages to hide the baby, begging the widow to hide and care for her.
So begins a tale that carries over 32 years. 32 years of Homan and Lynnie pining for each other and hoping to run into each other. Years of the widow hiding the baby and raising it as her own. Years of all finding help, care and understanding in the eyes of strangers.
The story sucks you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat through all this time. Will the baby be discovered and taken away? Will Lynnie and Homan ever find each other again. Will Lynnie ever get out of that horrible institution?
Really great read that the Dew highly recommends.
