If I had thought about it, I would have twigged that I wasn't the right reader for this book. It covers adultery and child abandonment, both of which are topics that I can't find any sympathy for. It also features several other topics that I find pretty grim too. It has a very complex (too complex?) plot and the writing is uneven in places so all in all I did not find it an enjoyable read. This was not a book that I would have picked for myself if I had had the opportunity to flick through it in the bookshop and I was a bit cross with myself for not noticing this issue straight away. I will keep my review private (just on netgalley not on my website) since it could not be more positive.

Creative and a vivid portrayal of the 1920's, Leaving Lucy Pear is the strange and wonderful story of a child who grows up without her biological mother.

While there was so much I should have liked about this book, location, era etc I just never managed to engage with it at all and unusually for me abandoned it after 100 pages. This probably means it will go on to be a big hit but it just wasn't for me.

The blurb of this book really drew me in and I loved the opening chapter as it set things up really well for a book about discovery, set in a really strong and interesting time in history

But then it all seemed to get a little messy for me and I struggled to connect with any of the characters and feel any level of empathy towards them. At times I found myself going back over pages to remember who people were, and did find some of the characters a little irrelevant to the main plotline. I did enjoy the ending as I found it quite liberating for Lucy and think she deserved that as a character but overall I found the story too slow and quite confusing.

In 1917 when Bea, a young Jewish girl finds that she is pregnant she is sent away to her uncles in Massachusetts to give birth. When the baby is born Bea decides to leave the baby in the pear orchard where she knows that local catholic families steal the pears every year and will find her.

Emma take in the baby calling her Lucy Pear but Lucy grows up always knowing that she is different from the rest of the family.

Ten years later Bea comes back to take care of her uncle who is in ailing health and so comes across the daughter that she gave away but never forgot - can she reveal who she really is?

A very interesting novel including lots of history of the times from prohibition to homosexuality and how the families cope with the issues of the time

I enjoyed this novel, it spoke to me in an emotional way but it really was not a great example of its genre! Perhaps the worst I can say about this book is that it was forgettable and but for some notes I wrote whilst reading, I can't really remember it at all! It was neither bad nor good, it spoke to my heart but my brain said 'oh please'. Perhaps it could have used stronger prose but sadly this slips off my radar too quick.

This is a book that tells a complex story of motherhood and family. Lucy's young mother (Beatrice) leaves her baby under a pear tree and watches as the baby is taken by one of the travelling pear pickers. Lucy finds love in her adopted family while her birth mother struggles with life. It is set in America in an era of secrets, xenophobia and prohibition. Lucy is reared in an Irish Catholic family, wherein her differences become obvious, whilst Beatrice belongs to a wealthy Jewish family. Beatrice has never recovered from her actions and lives her life in depression and regret. When the two worlds collide, secrets are spilled and emotions run high. I liked this book and its' exploration of the complexity of relationships whilst giving informative social commentary.

http://www.librarything.com/work/17635842

And on Litsy as Charl08