by Rachel Simon
First published 2011
Lynnie carries her newborn daughter through the night as she and Homan flee the institution where they have been imprisoned. She is a young white woman with a developmental disability. He is an African American deaf man. Both have been forgotten at the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, but their love has given them hope and now a child. They find temporary safety at the farmhouse of Martha, a widow who once taught school. The authorities arrive before dawn. Homan disappears into the woods. Guards seize Lynnie to drag her back to the institution. She presses close to Martha and speaks two words: "Hide her." Martha takes the baby as Lynnie vanishes into custody. This moment launches four decades of separation and searching as Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and the child Julia navigate a world that divides them through prejudice and institutional barriers while an unbreakable bond pulls them toward reunion.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama, disability
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: School for the Incurable and Feebleminded
Period: 1970s, 2010s
346 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: ableism