Keeping Lucy
Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood
Print and e-book, 320 pages
Published August 6th 2019 by St. Martin's Press
From the author of Rust & Stardust comes this heartbreaking story, inspired by true events, of how far one mother must go to protect her daughter.
Dover, Massachusetts, 1969. Ginny Richardson's heart was torn open when her baby girl, Lucy, born with Down Syndrome, was taken from her. Under pressure from his powerful family, her husband, Ab, sent Lucy away to Willowridge, a special school for the “feeble-minded." Ab tried to convince Ginny it was for the best. That they should grieve for their daughter as though she were dead. That they should try to move on.
But two years later, when Ginny's best friend, Marsha, shows her a series of articles exposing Willowridge as a hell-on-earth--its squalid hallways filled with neglected children--she knows she can't leave her daughter there. With Ginny's six-year-old son in tow, Ginny and Marsha drive to the school to see Lucy for themselves. What they find sets their course on a heart-racing journey across state lines—turning Ginny into a fugitive.
For the first time, Ginny must test her own strength and face the world head-on as she fights Ab and his domineering father for the right to keep Lucy. Racing from Massachusetts to the beaches of Atlantic City, through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to a roadside mermaid show in Florida, Keeping Lucy is a searing portrait of just how far a mother’s love can take her.
My thoughts about Keeping Lucy ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"Later she would blame the moon. That full blood moon that pierced the night sky like a bleeding bullet hole."
Keeping Lucy grabbed me from the very first sentence and I was totally captivated by the characters and the story-line. This was a book that I didn't want to put down—I became that interested in what was happening and wanted only the best for them.
What happened to Ginny and her daughter when she was born was fairly common during the time period that this story takes place. Ginny's strength takes her on the fight of her life, for herself sure, but most of all for her daughter and other's like little Lucy. I was cheering loudly for Ginny and Lucy as they tried to take down the system.
This was a wonderful, heartwarming story that will definitely stick with me for along time. What a beautiful story demonstrating the power of love.
I received a copy of Keeping Lucy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest review.
About the author
T. Greenwood is the author of thirteen novels. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and, most recently, the Maryland State Arts Council. She has won four San Diego Book Awards. Five of her novels have been BookSense76/IndieBound picks. Bodies of Water was finalist for a Lambda Foundation award. Her thirteenth novel, Keeping Lucy was just published.
She teaches creative writing for San Diego Writer's Ink and online for The Writer's Center. She and her husband, Patrick, live in San Diego, CA with their two daughters. She is also a photographer. ~ Goodreads
Connect with the authorShe teaches creative writing for San Diego Writer's Ink and online for The Writer's Center. She and her husband, Patrick, live in San Diego, CA with their two daughters. She is also a photographer. ~ Goodreads
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