FROM THE PUBLISHER

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￯﾿ﾽthese 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, ￯﾿ﾽQuindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.￯﾿ﾽ


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Magazine - Beth Kephart

In her elegant, compassionate, but not always plausible new novel, Quindlen takes readers to an estate in a town called Mount Mason. The estate is named Blessings, and its eighty-year-old owner, Lydia, has been living the staid and brittle life of remorse and "self-imposed exile" for as long as she can remember. Things change when a baby mysteriously shows up in a box on the steps of the garage and the handyman, Skip Cuddy, decides to raise the child as his own. His attempt to keep the baby a secret fails miserably, and soon Lydia and Skip, the unlikeliest of friends, develop a binding affection for the child, whom Skip names Faith. The writing is lovely, and some of the insights into human nature are breathtaking. But when the real world does finally intrude and the tranquillity of Blessings is broken, Quindlen sends her characters down improbable paths; suddenly they are acting, reacting and speaking in ways that seem oddly out of sync with the personalities she has developed. Still, there are great pleasures to be had in reading this novel, particularly its lambent prose.

Publishers Weekly

Venturing into fictional territory far from the blue-collar neighborhoods of Black and Blue and other works, Quindlen's immensely appealing new novel is a study in social contrasts and of characters whose differences are redeemed by the transformative power of love. The eponymous Blessings is a stately house now gone to seed, inhabited by Mrs. Blessing, an 80-year-old wealthy semirecluse with an acerbic tongue and a reputation for hanging on to every nickel. Widowed during WWII, Lydia Blessing was banished to her socially prominent family's country estate for reasons that are revealed only gradually. Austere, unbending and joyless, Lydia has no idea, when she hires young Skip Cuddy as her handyman, how her life and his are about to change. Skip had promise once, but bad companions and an absence of parental guidance have led to a stint in the county jail. When Skip stumbles upon a newborn baby girl who's been abandoned at Blessings, he suddenly has a purpose in life. With tender devotion, he cares secretly for the baby for four months, in the process forming a bond with Mrs. Blessing, who discovers and admires his clandestine parenting skills. A double betrayal destroys their idyll. As usual, Quindlen's fine-tuned ear for the class distinctions of speech results in convincing dialogue. Evoking a bygone patrician world, she endows Blessings with an almost magical aura. 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. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT - Sherri F. Ginsberg

Blessings is the name of an estate owned by an aging, ornery matriarch, Lydia Blessing. One day someone drops off an infant at this estate assuming she will get excellent care. The handyman, who just happens to be an ex-con, finds her and begins to raise her as his own. Mrs. Blessing finds out and the three become a unique family. They name her Faith and fall in love with the baby. It's a fragmented family with an absurd blending of an old woman with a great amount of resources and a young man who owns nothing. Quindlen, an award-winning columnist and author, writes about how love of a child brings out the best in people, with a healthy dose of reality thrown into the pile. It is a powerful commentary on family interactions and the ability of a person to change. The past never stays in the past but surfaces. The characters have to sort out what actually happened and reconcile themselves to the truth so they are able to move forward and become a family unit in the most unconventional manner. This is for older high school students and fans of Quindlen. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Random House, 237p., Ages 15 to adult.

Library Journal

Quindlen's short, sentimentally sweet new novel (following Black and Blue) is ultimately unsatisfying. The wealthy and reclusive 80-year-old Lydia Blessing lives in the eponymous "Blessings," the country estate to which she was banished by her family after the death of her husband in World War II. Two events conspire to change the remaining years of Lydia's life: she hires twentysomething Skip Cuddy as a handyman, and a baby is abandoned on her doorstep. Skip, whose friendship with some local lowlifes led to a stint in jail, tries to hide the existence of the baby from his prickly and critical employer, to no avail. Both Skip and Lydia fall in love with the baby, whom they name Faith, and in spite of their misgivings come together as a makeshift family. But after four months, their secret is revealed, and Faith is taken away. Quindlen's talent for realistic dialog can't overcome the melodramatic plot and one-dimensional characters. Of course, her fans will want to read this, but don't go overboard on the number you purchase. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/02.]-Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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