It is in the early 1970’s when Lynne, a young white woman with a developmental disability and Homan, an African American deaf man show up at the home of Martha, a senior and widow. They have escaped from the institution they lived in.
Lynne is only able to speak a few words and Homan is unable to speak at all. He knows sign language but not the kind that anyone understands. Lynne had just given birth and she is able to ask Martha to hide the baby girl. The authorities from the institution arrive shortly after and take Lynne back to the institution but Homan escapes and later presumed dead.
Once Lynne arrives back, her favorite staff person, Kate. When Kate runs Lynne a bath, she discovers that Lynne was pregnant and had given birth but Lynne swears her to secrecy in fear that the authorities will find her daughter and harm her. Lynne is able to communicate with Kate through some words and her drawings.
Meanwhile Martha, not sure what to do, turns to some of her former students for help. She leaves her farm house and moves from state to state, living with different students along the way to keep the authorities of her track. She raises the baby girl, she names Julia.
While all this is happening, Homan is actually alive and well and is trying to find his way back to Lynne. He runs into some quirky and interesting characters along the way.
The story of a beautiful girl spans decades. The writing is beautiful and the characters have great depth. There are a few problems with it, however. It seems a bit formulaic and predictable in parts. I also would have like to have heard more from Julia and her perspective. I think it would have woven the story, especially near the end, better.
That said, it is a very worthwhile book. The story flows nicely and I did care about what happened to the characters. The subject itself, is near and dear to my heart, as I use to work with adults with developmental disabilities and fortunate enough to be involved in moving these adults into group homes into the community in the 90’s. For most of the people, there was marked improvement once they moved into the more family like settings.
Thanks to Hachette and Net Galley for the ebook version of this book.
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