Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood

A special thank you to Goodreads First Reads, NetGalley, Edelweiss, Macmillan, and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This heartbreaking story—inspired by true events—is a tale of how far a mother will go for her child.  In 1969, Ginny Richardson gave birth to a baby girl with Down Syndrome.  Her husband's family arrange to have the baby sent to Willowridge, a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities.  Abbott, her husband, tries to convince Ginny that it is for the best and that they should move on after they grieve for her daughter whom, they were going to claim, died at birth.

Two years later, Ginny's best friend, Marsha, shows her articles about Willowridge—the living conditions are nothing short of horrifying, and the children are severely neglected.  Ginny, Marsha, and Ginny's six-year-old son visit the school to see for themselves if there is any truth to what is being reported and how Lucy is being cared for.  With the circumstances being exactly as described, Ginny takes Lucy and flees.  For the first time in her life, she is in control and in for the fight of her life against Ab and his powerful family.

Greenwood's writing is great, in fact, it's better than great.  She effortlessly draws the reader in and deftly balances the delicate subject matter with the story—based on real events—that needed to be told.  I felt that she kept the writing light on purpose given the horrific reports of institutions, like Willowridge, that actually existed.  It could be argued that this did the novel a disservice however, in this case, I think it worked.  Ginny was naive and passive and this type of character couldn't shoulder a heavier plot with a deeper exploration into both the depression that Ginny experienced as well as the deplorable conditions that Lucy was living in.      

At first, I was a little thrown by the third perspective, and the sentence structure was distracting because every sentence seemed to start with "Ginny".  Once I got past that and into the rhythm of the writing, I devoured this page-turner.

T. GREENWOOD is the author of thirteen novels. She has won three San Diego Book Awards. Five of her novels have been BookSense76/IndieBound picks. Bodies of Water was finalist for a Lambda Foundation award.

She is also a photographer and 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.