When two people show up on her doorstep in the middle of the night, Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow, lets them in and helps them even though she lives alone. The young woman doesn't speak and soon it becomes clear that the somewhat older African American man is deaf. What also becomes apparent is that the young woman has just given birth. When the authorities start banging on Martha's door just a little later, Homan, the man, slips out the back while they take Lynnie back to the School for Incurable and Feebleminded. Apparently unaware that there is a baby, the authorities take Lynnie and continue to search for Homan. The two words Lynnie whispers to Martha before she's taken away is "hide her."
Thus starts the journey of three people and an infant. Martha takes the baby and leaves her house to keep anyone from questioning her about the sudden appearance of a baby to a widow who never raised a child of her own. Homan tries to find a way to elude the authorities wherever he is and still find a way back to Lynnie, the one he calls "Beautiful Girl" in his own sign language dialect. Lynnie tries to survive and not tell anyone of her baby because she fears for her baby's future.
This was my book club's selection for July. Overall, we all enjoyed it and loved the ending. It does start a bit slow, but picks up quickly.
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