Anna Quindlen is an author that I regularly enjoy. Blessings did not end up being one of my favorite books that she has written, but I still enjoyed it. This story is centered on Skip Cuddy, an ex-con who is working for Lydia Blessing on her estate and living about her garage in a little apartment. One day Skip finds a baby outside the door to his apartment and begins caring for it. It is interesting that the baby is found by “the help” rather than by the owner of the estate, which could change the destiny of the baby in just a moment. Skip takes the baby in while initially trying to keep it a secret from his boss even though he has little to know experience of infant care. It is endearing the way he works to find out what the baby needs and provide it. He grows to love the baby, that he names Faith, and soon Lydia finds out about it and joins in trying to help care for the baby. Lydia also grows to love the baby and both Lydia and Skip find joy that they did not know about in caring for this child. Lydia becomes more open to the world than she had been before and Skip seems to be finding his way.
The baby’s birth parents are briefly introduced and then come back for more of a role once the secret of the baby is in the open. The delicate balance of an untraditional family (Skip, Lydia and Faith) is easy to upset. I admire (although don’t always like) the characters in this book, particularly Skip, who demonstrates a type of unconditional love in his willingness to let Faith go if that is best for her. While this book moved swiftly for me, it was not one that I couldn’t put down. If I were to give it a rating out of five stars it would be about a three. I was glad I read it but probably won’t read it again.
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