Blessings

August 26, 2002
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. (Sept. 24)Forecast:Count on this feel-good novel, a book that will appeal to the entire family, to ring up bestseller sales as a perfect Christmas gift.

May 1, 2002
A baby is abandoned at Blessing's, home to town matriarch Lydia Blessing, and she and her caretaker opt to raise it. The publisher considers this one more big step up for the ever-popular Quindlen.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2002
Quindlen's novels, including the best-selling "Black and Blue" (1997), evince a topicality and clear-cut moral authority reflective of her work as a columnist, currently for "Newsweek." Such an issue-oriented perspective can overburden fiction, but thankfully Quindlen is too fine a writer and too sensitive to the complexities of the human condition to write platitudinous fiction. Her newest novel, a work of glowing lyricism and genuine redemption, begins when a very young and nervous couple leaves a small box by the garage of a grand old estate called Blessings. The handyman, Charles "Skip" Cuddy, not long out of jail and sincerely grateful to be tending such beautiful property, finds their abandoned newborn baby and decides to care for her in secret. But it doesn't take his watchful employer, Lydia Blessing, long to discover her newest tenant or to fall in love with little Faith, just as Skip has. They make an odd pair, the motherless townie and the poor little rich octogenarian. Widowed for decades and still mourning the violent death of her brother, Lydia hasn't been much of a mother to her own daughter, and as she watches Skip revel in unexpected fatherhood, she is assailed by memories and suddenly realizes not only that she's lived a penitent's isolated and emotionally frugal existence but also why. 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. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

December 2, 2002
Quindlen's novel of redemption and second chances is given a warm, sympathetic reading by Allen. Skip Cuddy is one of life's losers: abandoned by his parents as a child and railroaded by so-called "friends" into a crime that wasn't his fault as an adult. But he's content with his new job as caretaker of Blessings, the estate of elderly, isolated Lydia Blessing. When a frightened unwed teenager leaves her newborn by Skip's garage apartment (instead of the estate's front door, as planned), Skip finds a new lease on life in taking care of the infant. And when Lydia discovers the baby and agrees to help Skip raise her, she too finds new meaning in life, as well as a mutually rewarding friendship with Skip. (Of course, eventually the baby's mother wants her back.) Allen's voice is filled with compassion, and she does a fine job differentiating the characters. Particularly memorable are the voices of elderly Lydia Blessing; Korean maid Nadine; and Chris, a sleazy, manipulative friend of Skip's. Simultaneous release with the Random hardcover (Forecasts, Aug. 26).

October 15, 2002
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 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.