BLESSINGS by Anna Quindlen

 Finished We 10/7/20

This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. I was somewhat familiar with Quindlen, but I was really surprised by how well written this novel was. I really loved the book!

A baby is left on the steps of a country estate in upstate Mount Mason, New York. This changes the lives of numerous people and uncovers deep and dark secrets.

The baby was left on the porch of the young man who was the handyman for the estate. He recently was released from the county jail for his part as the driver in a robbery. He didn't know that he was part of a robbery scheme, but thought he was just out for a ride with some questionable friends.

Skip Cuddy (Charles) bonds with the little girl that he names, Faith. 

Lydia Blessing is the 80 years old and has lived on the estate only with her housekeeper, Nadine. A Korean war bride with a teenage daughter, Jennifer.

Lydia learns of the baby and also bonds with Faith.

Skip and Lydia become 'parents'.

The Sub-Plot is that Lydia's brother was gay. The man that Lydia married was actually Skip's lover, Benny. 

During WWII Lydia became pregnant by an acquaintance, Frank, but this was never acknowledged.  

The Blessings family basically kept Lydia cloistered at the estate.

In the end, the girl that left Faith comes back to claim the baby.

Lydia dies and leaves the garage apartment to Skip. In the apartment is nearly a hundred thousand dollars in cash that Lydia's father had left for her, but she never paid it any attention. 

Skip starts a lawn care operation and Lydia's daughter sells the house, but decides that the name 'Blessing' should be left on the estate.

From Bookbrowse.com:

"... 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." 

I really loved the novel and have alerted Janny to see if she has more books written by Quindlen.