As I was searching for Rachel Simon's Riding The Bus With My Sister on audiobook through Libby I discovered this other title written by her and was immediately interested upon reading the summary. And since I can't find her memoir about her sister on audiobook for free, I took a chance on this one. It was a great decision. What a terrific story.

On a dark, stormy, winter night in 1968, Martha welcomes into her home two wet and scared guests. Neither is speaking but it is clear they are in trouble and need help. Taking a chance that her safety isn't in peril, Martha decides to help them. It turns out to be a decision that is life-changing for all three of them. Actually, make that four of them. So begins a story that spans the next 40 years of Lynnie, Homan (42), Martha, and Julia.

Lynnie lives in an institution for developmentally delayed, Homan is on the run to keep from being forced back to the institution, and Martha and Julia keep moving around to ensure nobody figures out who Julia's mother really is. Each of them has a supporting cast of characters that motivates them to make a life, the best life they possibly can with the circumstances they have been thrust into one stormy night in 1968.

Rotating between years and characters, Simon tells the tale of love, perseverance, bravery, and heroism. I want to say a lot more but I fear in doing so I will ruin the pleasure of reading the story for oneself. And it is a true pleasure to read this story and to be immersed in such a well-written tale and lovely main characters. In acknowledgments, Simon explains how this story came to be, and reading the explanation makes the story even more special, in my opinion.

I was really torn on the star rating for this because I enjoyed it and I cared about the characters but in the end it was ever so slightly disappointing as I felt there was so much more that the author could have done so I settled on 3.5

The story begins one night when a man and a woman appear on a widow’s doorstep in the middle of a storm. They have escaped from The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, an institution where those with difficulties or who are a little different are locked away and forgotten about. Lynnie has a learning difficulty and Homan, who is desperate to protect her is deaf. As the institution closes in on them Lynnie begs Martha to hide her daughter. Lynnie is found and taken back to the institution, Homan evades capture and Martha must re-evaluate her life and leave behind all she knows in order to care for the child she has been entrusted: Julia. From this point on the story follows them all individually: Homan in his quest to return, rescue Lynnie (whom he calls ‘Beautiful Girl’), Lynnie who must survive the Institution and it’s often abusive wardens, Kate the one warden who is trying to help Lynnie and Martha who must find a safe way to raise Julia.

It was definitely an interesting read and bought up lots of issues about the treatment of people with these kinds of disabilities. Homan constantly struggles with people believing him to be simple because he cannot understand the sign language they use. In the institution we realise that Lynnie has been subjected to various forms of abuse and although as a child she could talk a little, she has subsequently given up on it due to the maltreatment she has received and witnessed. These are some very important issues being raised, especially early on, and some of the nastier sides of humanity are revealed. Towards the end, however, the time gaps between the narrative chunks became longer so as to simply cover the more significant milestones that allowed the author to tie everything up neatly.

The author definitely has skill. She employs a switching narrative technique throughout the entire book, which usually is my pet peeve, but in this instance it was well done and I maintained an interest in all of their stories as opposed to finding one boring in comparison to another. My main complaint is that there should have been more. To begin with, we follow all the characters quite closely but this is lost as the novel progresses. A little bit more on Lynnie’s life and a little more on Martha’s struggle with raising Julia would have definitely pushed this up to a 4 star book. This may have perhaps made it a slight gloomier book for longer but it seems more fitting with the initial investment made in these characters. The ending also partly detracted from the more serious underlying ideas and messages in the book. It was very neat and tidy and although a lovely way to finish the book it felt just that little bit forced. Simon could have easily gone for a very similar ending which the characters had actually tried to bring about rather than everything just happening to fall in to place.

I would urge, however that people DO read this book. It’s important to think about the way we as a society and as individuals treat people with all kinds of disabilities. This book certainly prompted me on to google to learn more.

4.5 Stars

This isn't exactly fine literature, but that doesn't matter. This is a sweet love story that spans decades, perfect for a beach or rainy day read.

Good book, although it seemed to drag a bit in the middle. I felt the ending was a bit rushed and far fetched.

“He thought that maybe when you're making your way forward into your life, it just looks higgledy-piggledy, the way, if you were a fly walking across one of Beautiful Girl's drawings all you'd be able to see was green, then blue, then yellow. Only if you got in the air before the swat came down would you see the colors belonged to a big drawing, with the green for this part of the picture, the blue and yellow for others, every color being just where if was meant to be. Could that be what life was?”

I don’t remember how I found out about this book. Several friends on Goodreads have read it and loved it. So maybe that is what led me to this wonderful novel. I had read another book by Simon (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1011712447?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1), but I didn’t remember that book when I started reading this story.

It doesn’t really matter how I found this, I am just so glad that I did find it. I fell into the tale and felt like I didn’t leave until I turned the last page. Part of me would say that this book is extremely improbable. Two young people escape from a county farm, the girl has a baby and they both leave the baby in the care of a total stranger. This is only the beginnings of some improbable happenings. I don’t want to spoil the novel for anyone and I don’t think you would read this if I told you the whole plot. You would think that both Simon and this reader are nuts.

There are many, many coincidents in this book. Things that I know would not happen in my world. But that is what makes this book so amazing. Somehow, Simon writes this impossible story and by the end all is well. I just loved knowing that in some world things that should work out do.

Wow, what an incredible book! I was hooked from the beginning and loved the style used.

Incredibly sad and heartbreaking, I was scared how it would end and that I wouldn't want it too.

Wonderful read,probably will be one of my favourites

On a dark and stormy night in 1968, a widow is alone at home, as she usually is. She hears a knock on her door. She isn't expecting anyone, but, these being simpler times in many ways, she answers anyway. A young black man and white woman are outside, drenched, in obvious need of help. It soon becomes apparent that the man is deaf and the woman has some sort of developmental disability. There's also a newborn girl hidden under the woman's sodden clothes. White, the girl is obviously not the black man's daughter.

Martha, the widow, sets about making the man, woman, and infant comfortable. Then there's a second knock at the door. Police. They're looking for the couple, "escapees" from the local "school for the feebleminded." They quickly find Lynnie, the woman, but the baby is hidden away and they don't seem to know about her. The man, "Buddy," makes his escape out the back door. Lynnie, who hasn't uttered a word up to this point, whispers one request into Martha's ear as the authorities drag her away: "Hide. Her." Meaning the baby. In a life-altering decision, Martha does exactly that.

Oh my gosh, this was so heart-breaking to listen to. Seriously. My heart just ached through some of the descriptions. It's just so hard to imagine the conditions that citizens with different abilities were subjected to, and not that long ago. Families were ashamed of their children and locked them away, out of sight, never to visit again. The families who felt differently were often pressured into sending their children to these "schools," where a good front was assumed on visiting days.

The book follows Lynnie's story after she is sent back to the school. One toothbrush to share, bullies as "caretakers," violence, menial work, and absolutely no learning. It's even said about the "students" at the school, "They're not even human. It's not like they can feel." (Paraphrased) I can't imagine. But Lynnie has hope. She knows her daughter is out there somewhere, growing, free of the school. She has faith that her lover, whom she calls Buddy, will come for her someday. And in her innocence, she holds onto her faith for decades. I loved her. She comes so unimaginably far in her own story arc. I was so proud of this fictional character!

Buddy's real name is Homan, and he's had a hard life. He lost his hearing in a childhood fever and he's also illiterate. He learned a form of sign language, but so few people know it at this point that he's effectively left without any way to communicate. He's inventive, caring, and intelligent, but he's locked away with people with developmental disabilities because of his deafness. Even after he escapes, he loses his way. He's understandably angry at the world. I sometimes got frustrated with him, but I understood where he was coming from. Most heartbreaking of all? His character is based on a real person who lived his whole life in a "school" like Lynnie's and died in one.

Martha and the baby go off on their own odyssey. Martha is childless, not through any choice of her own, and the baby fills a void in her life that she wasn't fully aware of. They set out on a life on the run. Martha knows that if authorities ever find out who this child's mother is that she will be locked away in a "school" as well. Martha refuses to let that happen.

For all the heartbreak, I was left with tears of absolute joy in my eyes at the end. It's a good thing that I finished as I pulled into the garage because I don't know what kind of state I would have been in for driving. I felt like these characters made my heart grow a few sizes.

I had to listen to the author's notes at the end (a sign of how much I love a book), and it turns out that her sister was born with a developmental disability. The love in this story is obviously the real love the author has for her sister. I could well up again just thinking about it.

Speaking of the ending, I do wish there had been just a little more resolution. It's tied up, I just wanted a little more of the happy times after all of the bad.

Kate Reading is the narrator. I haven't listened to any of her work before, but she is fantastic. I will be searching her out in the future.

If you are in the mood to get through some heartbreak and come out on the other side a better person, pick this book up in any format you like. I highly, highly recommend it.

Book Club read for April.
I'm not one for books with depressing plots (even though this did have a HEA), I like my books light, escapist, romantic and fantastical and this was- not.
Well written though, engaging and quite stiring. Went with 3 stars as it's just not my genre but I could see myself giving it 4 for structure and an engaging story.