Books that Hook: The Story of Beautiful Girl
By Kalie Chamberlain
Our senior book reviews are written with the understanding that mature, sensible, premium-aged people may not want the bother of searching for well-written, sleaze-free reading materials—that’s why we’ve done the searching for you. We hope you enjoy this month’s pick.
This Month’s Fiction Selection: The Story of Beautiful Girl
Author: Rachel Simon
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Length: 346 pages
Late one stormy night, Martha, a retired schoolteacher, hears a knock at her door. A lonely widow, she is uneasy opening her door to strangers. But when she sees the desperate couple on her doorstep, dripping with rain from the pounding storm, she lets them in—and then realizes they have a baby with them. The mother, Lynnie, a mentally retarded young woman, begs Martha to take the baby. The deaf African American man who stands protectively over her signals his concern. In the short moments that transpire between them before fate sweeps them all apart, Martha agrees to protect and raise the child in secret.
Soon, men arrive at Martha’s home. They are searching for two prisoners escaped from the nearby School—The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. Lynnie and the man, known only as Number Forty-Two, are separated. But the men don’t know about the child, and Martha leaves her life behind, holding in her arms the secret that binds them all together.
A story that moves over forty years, the reunion of Lynnie, Number Forty-Two, Martha, and the child sometimes seems impossible. A revealing essay on the mistreatment of individuals with disabilities in the middle part of the twentieth century, it is also a story of hopeful returning, as Number Forty-Two navigates his silent world, searching for his Beautiful Girl and Little One. When he finds it, his voice shines with courage in a world that for so many years kept him silent. It is matched by Lynnie’s gentle fight for fairness and free speech. Her art speaks her stories and eventually gives her the power to choose her future.
Penned by Rachel Simon, the bestselling author of Riding the Bus with My Sister, this latest novel garnered praise from critics. Named a Book Not to Be Missed by USA Today and a #1 Recommended Novel from the Christian Science Monitor, The Story of Beautiful Girl is a New York Times Bestseller. Although the story moves slowly and spans forty years, the plot entangles you from the first page. You won’t want to put this book down until you reach its final, stirring conclusion.
You can borrow The Story of Beautiful Girl from your local library. Purchase it from a local bookseller or at www.amazon.com. Also available in e-book and audio book format.