From the very beginning I felt so many emotions while reading this book. The beginning of the story takes place in 1969 when husbands basically ruled the house and children with disabilities were raised in institutions not in the home. At the birth of Ginny's baby and how the husband and father-in-law handled the situation, my heart was breaking for Ginny. Keeping Lucy is a heartbreaking story of a mother's love and the obstacles she has to overcome for her daughter. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!! You will not be able to read this book and be able to forget it anytime soon.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this ARC for my honest opinion.
Here is Amazon's description of the book:
PopSugar's 30 Must-Read Books of 2019
Good Housekeeping's 25 Best New Books for Summer 2019
Better Homes & Gardens 13 New Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer
The heartbreaking and uplifting 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.
Based on incredible true events, Keeping Lucy is the searing, heartfelt, and breathtaking story of just how far a mother’s love can take her.