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The Story of Beautiful Girl [Paperback]

Rachel Simon (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
RRP: �7.99
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Book Description

Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012

On a stormy night in small-town America, a couple, desperate and soaked to the skin, knock on a stranger's door. When Martha, a retired schoolteacher, answers their knock, her world changes for ever.

Her visitors are Lynnie and Homan, who have fled The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded with their newborn baby. But the police are closing in and their freedom is about to be snatched away. Moments before she is taken back to the School, bound and tied, Lynnie utters two words to Martha: 'Hide her.' And so begins the heart-rending story of Lynnie, Homan, Martha and baby Julia - lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Windmill Books (5 Jan 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099558386
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099558385
  • Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 13.2 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 16,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Rachel Simon
Rachel Simon

Product Description

Review

"Beautiful storytelling that pulls you right in"--Red

"An enthralling and moving novel"--Woman & Home

"Combines love story and social accountability to great effect"--The Guardian

Book Description

Pennsylvania, 1968.

'Hide her.'

Two words that would change all of their lives - for ever.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars If I could I would give it SIX out of five! 20 Jun 2011
By H. Pierce VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This novel is outstanding! I have rarely been so moved by a story, as I have by this one! Not only does this beautifully written tale bring a story of love in many of its most precious ways, but it also highlights the plight of so many unfortunate people who have been subjected to the most awful situations because they are physically or mentally impaired in some way. Rachel Simon draws upon the horrific history of enforced institutionalisation of some of society's most vulnerable people.

Her tale is of Lynnie and Homan, and a pure love that they share, which looks past Lynnie's developmental delays and Homan's hearing impairment. It is also a tale of an elderly woman who selflessly gives up her whole existence, as she knows it, in order to keep a promise she made from one woman's heart to another.

The story itself is simultaneously heart-breaking, and heart-warming. The author has conducted a fair amount of research in order to try and do justice to the real-life history of men, women, and children who found themselves placed in these prison-like environments. That is what makes this story so outstanding, the fact that Rachel Simon manages to create such realistic characters to bring to life these nameless individuals. It makes you so thankful that society is moving forward, and has definitely come a long way in the last fifty years.

I commend the author on a very moving novel, and I highly recommend it to all.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Achingly lovely... 11 Jun 2011
By Welsh Annie VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This book seems to be dividing people, judging by the early reviews on Amazon, but I have to say I found it absolutely unputdownable - and if it's not in my top ten for this year I'll be amazed. It's horrifying that places like The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded still existed in the US in the late 60s, and the ignorance and brutality is shocking. For me the story was gripping throughout, beautifully written and well researched, and love continued to shine through all the trials and tribulations of the characters. OK, Lynnie's thought processes are more sophisticated than they maybe should be, and there's a fair sprinkling of coincidences... but it's a novel, not a treatise, and I'd soon have switched off if it had been otherwise. Your heart aches for Lynnie and Homan as they earn to find each other again, and Martha's self sacrifice and unquestioning love is wonderful. I absolutely loved it - if you read one book this year that takes you out of your comfort zone, make it this one.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars What have I missed? 4 Jun 2011
By F. M. M. Stott VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This novel tells the story of Lynnie and Homan - a woman with mental disability and her deaf boyfriend - who escape from the special "school" in which they have been incarcerated. They turn up on the doorstep of Martha, a widow and retired school teacher, and hand over to her Lynnie's new-born daughter for safekeeping before going into hiding. The novel follows Lynnie, Homan, Martha and Lynnie's daughter over a period of forty years.

I won't comment further on the plot to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say that for this reader at least, the story, which started promisingly, was dull and plodding, the pace was slow, and the story skipped from one protagonist to another with no apparent pattern. I realise that the author, who has a disabled sister, is writing about something that she knows, and yet I (who incidentally also have a handicapped sister) found her attempts to get inside the heads of her characters unconvincing. Lynnie is supposed to be mentally challenged, and yet her thought processes appear perfectly normal. Homan is supposed to be profoundly deaf, and yet at times he "thinks" in a colloquial American accent. Neither, for me, rings true. This author has set herself a difficult task, but I was unconvinced.

Add to that, a very slow plot, and a rather confusing ending (which includes an extraordinary coincidence), and this all adds up to a most unsatisfactlry read. I realise that so far I am very much in a minority (two other reviews so far have both given the book five stars) and I too would like to have been able to recommend this novel. Sadly, I can't. Perhaps someone can tell me what I've missed.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars easy read.
easy to read, not challenging, a little predictable but still worth a read. Aevableuthor has inside knowledge of subject, so believable.
Published 1 month ago by susan jarvis
4.0 out of 5 stars The Story of Beautiful Girl
This book gives an invaluable insight into the isolation and discrimination experienced by people wiith learning disabilities and sensory impairment. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rebecca
4.0 out of 5 stars Tissues required
A very readable book with an enjoyable story line on what is a very emotive subject.
I was moved to tears a number of times whilst reading this story.
Published 2 months ago by Jane P
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving Romance about Very Special People
A beautifully scripted narrative of life in a horrendous institution, of how mothers were almost forced to abandon their babes to an inhuman life because they were too special for... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Elmer Nash
5.0 out of 5 stars the story of beautiful girl
An excellent read. The book gripped the imagination from beginning to end and gave an interesting insight into life in America from the 1950s to current day
Published 3 months ago by Mrs Alison Kidner
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice enough story
This started off well and had me hooked but by the middle I wondered if it was worth it. Though the ending did finish a little abruptly it did explain a lot.
Published 3 months ago by beverley daulton
3.0 out of 5 stars take or leave
an average read I thought somewhat romantic for the subject matter also have to comment that the ending was somewhat hard to swallow .
Published 3 months ago by sbf-feedback
5.0 out of 5 stars The Story of Beautiful Girl
Very well written tear jerker with a contrived Ending (Hollywood style), It was well received by everyone in our book group
Published 4 months ago by deedeediddlidee
4.0 out of 5 stars The story of a special needs girl living in an institution in the...
As the parent of a girl with severe learning disabilities, this story was bound to prove difficult for me to read. Needless to say, it managed to make me weep copiously. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Wendyo
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Enjoyable read which really makes you think, especially as it is based around the events of a true story (I think even though the work itself is fiction). Read more
Published 5 months ago by L. Jones
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