The Story of Beautiful Girl

THE STORY OF BEAUTIFUL GIRL gets right under the skin and into the heart with the story of Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability that hinders her ability to speak, and Homan, an African American deaf man with only his home sign language to guide him. Both were institutionalized in the mid-twentieth century, when people with disabilities were routinely shut off from society and left to languish without attention, forgotten.

The captivating Richard & Judy spring pick, perfect for fans of The Help and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Pennsylvania, 1968: a time when people with disabilities were shut away in institutions, forgotten by the world.

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.

‘An enthralling and moving novel’ Woman & Home

‘Beautiful storytelling that pulls you right in’ Red

‘Combines love story and social accountability to great effect’ Guardian