It's the story of 2 young people with disabilities confined to an institution who fall in love and escape. The girl is pregnant as the result of being raped and gives birth while the couple is on the run. When they knock on the door of a widowed former school teacher, the woman takes them in. When the authoroites come to her door to take the couple back to the insitution, the elderly woman promises the young woman that she will take the baby and hide it from the authorities. The young man manages to escape.
The book covers the lives of Lynnie, the mother of the baby, Homan her male friend who is deaf and mute known only as "Twenty-Four" short for John Doe #24, Martha, the widowed former teacher, and Julia the baby, over the next 40 years.
This was one of those books that leaves a lasting impression and may make you change the way you look at people with disabilities. I stayed up last night to finish the book which I had just started reading Friday evening. As the mother of a wonderful daughter with disabilities, I laughed, cried and found myself so grateful that my daughter was born at a time when society's views and acceptance of people with disabilities have started to move in the right direction.
= new reply since forum marked as read