Leaving Lucy Pear (Solomon)

Leaving Lucy Pear 
Anna Solomon, 2016
Penguin Publishing
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594632655


Summary
Set in 1920s New England, the story of two women who are both mothers to the same unforgettable girl—a big, heartrending novel from award-winning writer Anna Solomon

One night in 1917 Beatrice Haven sneaks out of her uncle's house on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, leaves her newborn baby at the foot of a pear tree, and watches as another woman claims the infant as her own.

The unwed daughter of wealthy Jewish industrialists and a gifted pianist bound for Radcliffe, Bea plans to leave her shameful secret behind and make a fresh start.

Ten years later, Prohibition is in full swing, post-WWI America is in the grips of rampant xenophobia, and Bea's hopes for her future remain unfulfilled. She returns to her uncle’s house, seeking a refuge from her unhappiness.

But she discovers far more when the rum-running manager of the local quarry inadvertently reunites her with Emma Murphy, the headstrong Irish Catholic woman who has been raising Bea's abandoned child—now a bright, bold, cross-dressing girl named Lucy Pear, with secrets of her own.

In mesmerizing prose, award-winning author Anna Solomon weaves together an unforgettable group of characters as their lives collide on the New England coast. Set against one of America's most turbulent decades, Leaving Lucy Pear delves into questions of class, freedom, and the meaning of family, establishing Anna Solomon as one of our most captivating storytellers. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1976
• Raised—Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Brown University; M.A., Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Awards—Pushcart Prize (twice); Missouri Review Editor Prize
• Currently—lives in Providence, Rhode Island


Anna Solomon is an American journalist and the author of two novels—The Little Bride (2011) and Leaving Lucy Pear (2016).

Raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Solomon received her B.A. from Brown University. After college, she moved back home to try her hand at writing, enrolling in workshops at GrubStreet writing center in Boston.

When her year at home was up, Solomon took an internship with National Public Radio's Living On Earth in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The position led to a full-time reporting job and eventually to radio producing, working both in Cambridge and Washington, D.C., on award-winning stories about environmental policy and politics. Although Solomon says she loved working in radio (and may some day return to it), she was still committed to becoming a novelist, so she used her commuting time to write fiction.

An M.F.A. at Iowa Writers' Workshop came next. Needing steady income following her graduate work, Solomon turned to teaching. All the while, she continued writing—short stories and essays—for periodicals.

She also married a classmate from Brown, by then a professor in environmental climate law. The couple has two children.

In 2011 Solomon published her first novel, The Little Bride; five years later she released Leaving Lucy Pear. Both books have been well received.

Solomon’s short fiction has appeared in One Story, Georgia Review, Harvard Review, Missouri Review, Shenandoah, and elsewhere. Her stories have twice been awarded the Pushcart Prize, have won The Missouri Review Editor’s Prize, and have been nominated for a National Magazine Award.

Her essays have been published in the New York Times Magazine, Slate’s Double X, and Kveller. (Adapted from Wikipedia and Glen Urquhart School bio. Retrieved 9/20/2016.)

Book Reviews
Interweaving is the mechanism that propels this novel. Tight-linked chains of action and response, misapprehension and revelation are braided together into a narrative that may, at times, feel a little too tidy and, at others, a little too diffuse but, through Solomon's strong prose and fleet pacing, consistently provides the essential pleasures of a good story well told. Perhaps not all of the novel's myriad points of view are strictly necessary, but this is a book governed less by necessity than by earnest empathy, a desire to give each character opportunities for growth and betterment, bravery and openness.
Maggie Shipstead - New York Times Book Review


Gorgeously moving...a dazzling exploration of the impact of roads untaken on motherhood, class, and gender.... Solomon expertly works on a large, mesmerizing canvas, with an almost dizzying array of characters, each moving the terrific drama of the book.... [She] renders each character so exquisitely complex, they could be the heroes of their own novels.... It's impossible to stop reading, because Solomon has made us care so much for all the characters, because she's fashioned a world so real, you can taste the salt spray and smell the heady fragrance of the ripe pears.
Boston Globe


The worlds of three women collide on the coast of Massachusetts in the 1920s in this beautifully told tale of a young woman's journey to discover herself.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


A thoughtful examination of class in the early twentieth century.... Anna Solomon is wise in the ways of mothers and daughters, the ties that bind, the gulfs that separate. Leaving Lucy Pear offers unforgettable characters and many small, meaningful, emotional moments set against the backdrop of larger history, and Lucy Pear, that strong, smart girl, is a character to remember and to root for.
New Orleans Public Radio


Solomon is a beautiful writer, and her prose brings people and scenes achingly alive.... Her characters' struggles with motherhood and identity would be compelling in any era.
Entertainment Weekly


The well-crafted chapters-some could stand alone as short stories-are handsomely written [and] sometimes poetic.... Leaving Lucy Pear is recommended to readers who enjoy historical fiction, a cast of well developed mainly female characters, and handsome prose.
New York Journal of Books


Leaving Lucy Pear-works extremely well on multiple levels...but the real highlights are its characters and the author's clear empathy for them.... With delicate precision, Solomon illustrates their desires and fears, both voiced and unvoiced.
Historical Novel Society


The lives of a girl’s biological and adoptive mother are juxtaposed in this new work from Solomon, a dreamy blend intertwining the harsh gender and class boundaries.... [Solomon] deftly manages to keep this lushly written look at two women’s haunting choices from slipping into family fantasy.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Solomon's razor-sharp prose scrapes her characters raw as she plants them deeply in the history and turmoil of 1920s New England. A beautifully rendered tale of discovering one's true nature. Highly recommended.—Bette-Lee Fox
Library Journal


Quietly powerful.... Solomon excels at portraying flawed characters whose passive-aggressiveness overrides their search for love and success. But when the two mothers play tug-of-war for Lucy, readers cannot help but empathize with all involved. [A] moving story.
Booklist


(Starred review.) [F]ocused on the inner lives and challenges of a community, especially the womenfolk.... Solomon reaches resolutions marked with the same reflective maturity as the rest of this solidly absorbing novel. Slow-movement storytelling: fully-fleshed, compassionate, and satisfying.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. The novel’s title most obviously refers to Beatrice’s leaving Lucy in the orchard. What else do you think it means, and how did your understanding of it change as you read the book?
 
2. Bea and Albert’s marriage could be called a sham. What do you think? What defines a "real" marriage? What about a good one?
 
3. Bea has made a career out of doing "good works," but their results—and her motivations—turn out to be morally complex. Have you ever had misgivings about an act of charity (your own or another’s)?
 
4. Who is Lucy’s mother? How do Bea’s and Emma’s relationships with Lucy speak to different ideas about what it means to be a mother? What experiences have shaped your own definition of motherhood?
 
5. To that end, what can this novel tell us about what it means to be a biological versus an adoptive parent? In what ways does Emma treat Lucy differently from her other children, and how does this affect Lucy? Do you think it’s possible to be both a member of a family and an outsider?
 
6. Both Emma and Bea feel torn between their own fulfillment and their obligations to family. What sacrifices do these women make, and do you think these sacrifices would look different if Bea and Emma lived in the present day?
 
7. The Roaring Twenties are often depicted as carefree years in the United States, but in Leaving Lucy Pear you see how tumultuous the time period really was. Do you see any resonance between the twenties and the times we’re living in now?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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