This powerful new novel by the bestselling author of Black and Blue, One True Thing, Object Lessons, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life begins when a teenage couple drives up, late at night, headlights out, to Blessings, the estate owned by Lydia Blessing. They leave a box and drive away, and in this instant, the world of Blessings is changed forever. Richly written, deeply moving, beautifully crafted, Blessings tells the story of Skip Cuddy, caretaker of the estate, who finds a baby asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep her, and of matriarch Lydia Blessing, who, for her own reasons, decides to help him. The secrets of the past, how they affect the decisions and lives of people in the present; what makes a person, a life, legitimate or illegitimate, and who decides; the unique resources people find in themselves and in a community—these are at the center of this wonderful novel of love, redemption, and personal change by the writer about whom The Washington Post Book World said, "Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.
St Louis Post-Dispatch
[A] richly imagined novel of the transforming power of love.
The Miami Herald
A polished gem of a novel...lovingly crafted, beautifully written.
Kirkus Reviews
....soap-opera-parable with old-fashioned contrivances: comfortable, not Quindlen's best.
Library Journal
Quindlen's talent for realistic dialog can't overcome the melodramatic plot and one-dimensional characters.
Booklist - Donna Seaman
Quindlen's lush descriptions of the splendor of the Blessing estate stand in evocative contrast to the rigidity of the upper-class mores that destroyed Lydia's and her brother's lives. Skip, too, is a victim of circumstances, but in spite of the injustices he's suffered, he is goodness incarnate and ultimately inspires all of Quindlen's compelling characters to embrace, not count, their blessings.
Publishers Weekly
While it skirts sentimentality by a hairbreadth, the narrative is old-fashioned in a positive way, telling a dramatic story through characters who develop and change, and testifying to the triumph of human decency when love is permitted to grow and flourish.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by cupcakes27 maddi_emily@hotmail.com Although this book brought out love, care and generosity in a person you wouldn't look at twice, I found that the way Anna went from past to present confused the story and made it hard to follow on. I rate this book 3 stars because I have read... Read More
Review (not rated)
by Whitney Blessings The plot of Anna Quindlen's novel Blessings is constructed on the same model as E.T.: adorable orphaned creature is found by unlikely caregiver who against his or her better judgment falls in love with the little beast, while all the while, the... Read More
Rated of 5
by nessa horrible Before I brought this book, I read the back of the book thinking that it would be a great read. I was wrong. If you take out all the blabbling and off topic sentences, you probably would only get a 50 page book instead of a 200 page book. it was... Read More
Rated of 5
by dhhs student
It was a good book! A little confusing though. So many characters to remember! But none the less, It was deffinately worth reading!! ENJOY!!
Rated of 5
by Trish
I think she is a great writer. And its a gift to be able to go from the past to the present. Not so many authors can do that, yes, it may be confusing, but think about it, Even if you had to reread a paragraph every once in a while, you still got... Read More
Rated of 5
by S.L.B.
Let's see...I may be the only odd person out because I gave this book just a 3,this was a good book,good storyline and interesting and quirky characters,but what was confusing was the way this writer went back and forth to the past and present.... Read More
An honest, irreverent and compelling story laced with self-deprecating humor, grace, and wit. As always, Anne Lamott creates characters with whom we can identify, as she explores the depths of human emotion.
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Can an wiser, older narrator view the past with more wisdom than he might have possessed forty years earlier in the summer he was thirteen? Ordinary...
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The Miami Herald
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of 5
by nessa
of 5
by dhhs student
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