Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed Keeping Lucy. It was heartbreaking to read about the conditions of the institution and cheered on Ginny as she developed her backbone. I think some of it seemed a little too unbelievable and that Ginny could be so naive and trusting...

It was a quick read and I didn't want to put it down!

I very much enjoyed Rust and Stardust, the author’s last book, so I was excited at the opportunity to read this one.

When Ginny’s second child is born, a daughter with Down Syndrome, the baby is whisked away by her husband and sent to a residential home, Willowbrook. Ginny never laid eyes on her daughter or held her. She grieves the baby she never met but is subservient to her husband to a fault and the subject is never discussed in their household.

Two years later the school is the subject of an investigative article alleging abuse and neglect. Ginny decides to go on a road trip with a friend to rescue her daughter and takes her young son with her.

I’m sorry to say I found the writing simplistic with tired tropes and eye-rolling scenes. Plus, Ginny was infuriatingly passive, naïve and clueless. It was 1971 people! She drove me nuts. And her companion was supposed to be her opposite, progressive and liberated. How do we know she’s such a liberated lady? She’s promiscuous, smokes, and curses a lot, including in front of the children. Oh and she’s a nurse. How’s that for a cliched stereotype? (full disclosure: I am a nurse). Reading this book was like reading a Lifetime movie, a bad one. I gave up at 75% and just didn’t care anymore. I guessed how it would end and a friend who also read this book confirmed that I was correct.

Heartbreakingly, places like Willowbridge, the school for the mentally disabled did exist. An institution in New York, Willowbrook, was the inspiration for this story, a place Robert Kennedy called a “snake pit”. He is quoted as saying the people living in the overcrowded facility were “living in filth and dirt, their clothing in rags, in rooms less comfortable and cheerful than the cages in which we put animals in a zoo.” Thankfully, it closed in 1987 and led to legislation for people with disabilities.

I wish the focus of this book had been on facilities like this and the treatment and prejudices that surrounded the mentally disadvantaged.

This was a great story. It had me at the first chapter! It was a great reminder of how much change has happened for women in society in the last 50 years. It is hard to imagine not having any control of your life outside of your kitchen. I can’t believe that a woman could have a child and not have any say to their well being even from the delivery room. I really loved Ginny and her will to fight for Lucy. There were also many great supporting characters in the book that you wanted to hug, cheer on or slap across the face throughout the book. It was heartbreaking to read about the treatment and dismissal of special needs children. You know it happened in real life and I It has hard to believe humans were treated that way. The author did a good job organizing the book back and forth between flashbacks and the present.. Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! Keeping Lucy is such a powerful story. Learning about Ginny, her powerless loss of Lucy as she is sent to a school for the 'feeble-minded' at birth, and her struggle to get Lucy back while fighting her family and the law is such a strong story of redemption and love. I have noticed that some reviewers who disliked Ginny for her initial passivity; however, I couldn't disagree more. Ginny was a victim of the times, societal ignorance, and the power of her family. Through finding herself, she rose above these issues and had a strength like no other.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

When I review a book, I do not describe the story, as the description can be found on the inside jacket cover or in the synopsis on reader sites. I also do not want to reveal any plot elements that threaten to give away details. I liked this book but I didn’t love it. It was touching and heart wrenching at times. Other times, I was frustrated with the acquiescence and passivity of Ginny, the mother of the special needs child named Lucy. Some of the situations Ginny plunged into, were too far fetched for me to accept. I was a mother in the early 70s, I did not give up my voice simply because I was married. I know one’s own moral constitution and attitude can influence one’s opinion of a book, and that can be problematic for an honest review of the work. Having opined, I still thought much of the story was trite. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The idea of giving up a child to an institution sounds so sad. To have your child taken against your will and sent to a home sounds horrifying. This is the story of one such situation, based in the late 60's/early 70's. Sure, times have changed and doctors (hopefully) no longer refer to children with disabilities as imbeciles, but it was hard to read anyway. Yes, it is a novel and not one person's true story, but it was not a book to enjoy if that's what you are looking for.

Some of the characters, such as Abbott Sr, seemed a bit over the top, making it hard to stay with the story as he was just so unlikable. Overall, I think the story was a good idea to write, but can't say it was better than a 3 star, more like a 2.5 star for storyline inevitability.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

When her baby is born with Down Syndrome, Ginny is convinced that she cannot take care of Lucy and to send her to a school where she will be adequately provided for and educated. Two years later the school is the subject of an investigative article and a lawsuit alleging abuse and neglect. So Ginny decides to rescue her daughter.

Overly melodramatic and predictable for my taste, I only finished the book out of a sense of obligation. Having said that, I can name several teen girls and women friends who would love this book. Although (hopefully) these events couldn't happen today, this is a fast-paced race against time and a tension filled look at marriage and family obligations that will likely become a best-seller.

Just a good old story that is made even more compelling by the fact it was inspired by real events. It's a great reminder of how far society has come in regards to children with disabilities in just one generation. The current day story is interspersed with short chapters providing insights into the characters earlier years that are very informative although I was so caught up in the current day story at times I found the flashbacks a bit intrusive! This is definitely a book that can be read in a day or two - it reads fast and although it is a bit predictable in didn't impact my reading enjoyment at all.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an early release in exchange for an honest and fair review.

The book was a compelling story about a young mother just trying to be the best mother that she can be. Yet at the time, early 1970's she is controlled by her husband and has to give up her baby daughter because the baby has down syndrome. With heartbreak the young mother is forced to see the institution her daughter lives at.
She steals Lucy and runs away.
With clear, concise writing, the author weaves the story and the heartbreak throughout the book.
A great book.
A champion for challenged babies everywhere.

You HAVE to read this one! So touching, and warm, and special! I fell in love with the story and the characters. The most unusual part for me is a major character who I hated, I actually changed my mind about- now that's a great author! Don't miss this one..

This was my first book to read of T. Greenwood, Keeping Lucy. I loved it! T. Greenwood takes you back to the 60's and early 70's when institutions were the thing to do with your "unwanted" children. We meet Virginia, or Ginny as she is called for much of the book, and she is pregnant with her second child. Ginny and Ab are living the perfect life with one son and another child on the way. Like many women in this time, Ginny was a stay at home mom and she loved the thought of possibly having a daughter soon. Shortly after her shower, her daughter is born and is quickly taken away. Ginny is sedated without her consent and sleeps through most of her time in the hospital. She only sees her daughter briefly. Ginny is told her daughter will most likely die very soon and that putting her in Willowridge is the best for all. Greenwood shows us what a mothers love can do. We find Ginny taking Lucy two years later from the institution and running with her. This book pulls at your heartstrings and doesn't let go. You will root for Ginny the whole way through. I highly recommend this book! I read this book in two days. Very easy read. Greenwood does jump from past to present time, but the chapters are clearly labeled and I was able to keep up with no problem. Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
#NetGalley

I think it might just be me but I realized afterward that T. Greenwood wrote "Rust & Stardust," which I did not enjoy, so it may be that I do not like the writer's writing style. In this story inspired by true events, a mother will go to any lengths to protect her young daughter and ensure a good quality of life her.

I didn't enjoy this book. While I don't doubt that institutions in that day and age, even now, mistreated and abused children, the writing style felt littered with cliches and tropes. I also didn't like Grace and didn't feel any sort of maternal connection between her and Lucy.

The end felt too neat and convenient as well.

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel about Ginny and her husband Ab who are "forced" to give up their newborn, Lucy after she is born with Down Syndrome. Ab's controlling father convinces his son that she would be better off institutionalized as she may have heart problems and developmental difficulties. And while it was difficult to read as people are so callous and refer to her with derogatory language not acceptable anymore, I loved seeing Ginny and her friend, Marsha as they attempt to rescue Lucy after several newspaper articles expose the injustices and poor living conditions in the institute. It's a tribute to parenting and the lengths to which one will go to keep a family together!

Reading Keeping Lucy is an emotional roller coaster of a read. I was enraged and repulsed by the school and Lucy's physical condition and thoroughly disgusted by Ab's father's attitude and treatment of others. On the flip side, I loved Marsha's fiesty, take charge, we'll figure it out approach to life and applauded Ginny's drive to do what was right for her daughter. Keeping Lucy is about making difficult decisions, about doing what is right, and about learning to live life on your own terms. In many ways, it is a coming of age book for most of the main characters - Ginny, Marsha, Ab, and even Sylvia.

This is EASILY the best book I've read this year.

When Ginny has her baby daughter, she's immediately taken away from her. Her husband and father-in-law spirit baby Lucy away to a "school," insisting that it's the best thing to do because Lucy has Down Syndrome. Ginny is heartbroken, but she learns to live without her daughter, believing that she's in good hands.

Two years later, Ginny learns that Willowridge, the special school, is criminally neglecting their children wards. She travels there without her husband's knowledge and finds that the situation is even worse than she thought. She and her best friend, Marsha, take Lucy for a weekend visit, but soon Ginny resolves never to let her daughter return to that asylum of horrors.

What happens next is an epic road trip with young children in tow, threatened by kidnapping charges and the wrath of Ginny's father-in-law. What kind of monster would submit their flesh and blood to those conditions? What kind of man is Ab, Ginny's husband? There are so many questions and so many decisions to make for Ginny, naive SAHM Ginny, who has been shuttled into a lifestyle she doesn't want, away from what she really needs. I loved Ginny, and Marsha too - I felt a little bit of a Thelma and Louise vibe with their road trip. And baby Lucy stole my heart from the first scene at Willowridge. All in all, I thought this was a perfectly plotted, written, and executed novel.

T. Greenwood's Rust & Stardust was heartbreaking, and this novel will break your heart too, yet fill you with equal measures of hope. I think that Greenwood is easily becoming one of my favorite authors, and I look forward to what she writes next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

In 1971, a time when women were navigating the waters of independence apart from their children and husbands, Ginny Richardson -wife of attorney Ab and mother to son, Peyton - learns that the institution where her disabled daughter Lucy was committed is being accused of abuse and neglect. Ginny and her best friend Marsha- a woman who, in the parlance of the day, is "loose", as well as unmarried and possibly pregnant - take off for the institution to sign the child out for a long weekend. This is the first time Ginny has visited her daughter with Down syndrome and she is horrified to see the conditions. Her feelings of maternal neglect for two years are made even greater when she realizes her daughter is a beautiful, sweet child who has likely been subject to physical abuse. She and Marsha (and Peyton) abscond with the child to Florida, at first unaware that the little girl is a ward of the state of Massachusetts and that, thanks to her husband's controlling father, Ginny is not legally Lucy's parent.

I absolutely loved this book. Of course we are meant to sympathize with Ginny and her innocent daughter, and we do, but we also feel for her husband, who was himself bullied by his father into forgoing the life he truly wanted in favor of following in his father's footsteps. I appreciated the nuance in character development and the authenticity of details for the time period (for instance, the fear that Ginny has when she uses her husband's charge card for the first time, or when she admits to not knowing much about local news because she spends her time ironing pajamas and so on; Ginny doesn't drive and she doesn't have her own bank account, all things we will take for granted just a couple of decades later). Greenwood does a terrific job with the details for the Sixties and early Seventies; it all feels genuine and real, especially the characters.

A story like this (mother kidnaps disabled daughter after being overcome by her maternal love) could easily have been cliche or filled with tropes that would have made me roll my eyes and put it down but it wasn't. It was heartfelt yet heartbreaking. We truly feel for Ginny. And neither does Greenwood shy from the facts about raising a disabled child: Ginny makes it very clear that the kind of money her husband's family has will make it possible for her daughter to have the care she needs while others without her affluence will suffer. The limitations of a child with Down syndrome, as well as the genetic problems like being born with a hole in the heart, are also explored. Life with Lucy will not be easy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc to review. I highly recommend this book to others who enjoy contemporary fiction.

I was excited to receive a copy of T.Greenwoods newest book as I was a big fan of th authors previous work and I was not disappointed.
This was a tough read at times. I was aware of how much progress we have made regarding disabilities, but wasn’t aware of how much progress we have made. To think that not that long ago children who were not born “perfect” were sent away never it be seen or heard from again.
Back in the late 1960’s early 1970’s it was so different for mother’s... many just did what there husbands said .... like it or not.
I was so proud that Ginny, as hard as it was...fought for her daughter. A mother doesn’t disability but sees instead the ability.
It was a joy to see someone in Ginny’s position, who couldn’t even drive go after what she believed was right!
This author writes beautifully.
If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a book by T.Greenwood do yourself a favour and grab a copy of her latest work. What a treat.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was so heartbreaking that even the obligatory happy ending didn’t put me to rights. It’s a well-written, enjoyable book, but it’s also a very important book, as it shows us who we have been as a society to the most vulnerable. Keep your hanky handy

Thank you Net galley for the free ARC:
Barbaric Laws and ideas in the 1950's America. mademothers of Down syndrome babies ign them over to state institutions which by all means were disgusting, understaffed and primitive. THis book is how one mother reclaims her baby; did not like the backstory.

Wow!!! This book is superbly written courtroom drama that examines Life's Big Questions with empathy and leaves you spinning. Trust me, this is one you don't want to miss—it's going to be huge!! Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy.