Review: The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
This has been on my TBR for absolutely AGES so I figured it was time to buckle down and read it. The book follows a few different characters over a span of many years, from the start in 1968 to the finish in 2011. The main character is Lynnie. Lynnie is a young woman who shows up one night on the doorstep of Martha, with a deaf, black man and a newborn baby in tow. Martha is a bit flummoxed but decides to take in the small family and figure everything out later. However, before they can settle down to anything the authorities come looking for Lynnie and her companion. Martha figures out that they have escaped a mental institution, ostensibly labelled a school for the incurable and feebleminded. Having hid the baby in the attic Lynnie is forced to return to the school while her companion flees into the woods and Martha pledges to protect the baby. From here we follow how everyone does in life and how everything leads back to that one night on Martha’s doorstep. ...