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St. Elizabeth's is a home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. Life there is not unpleasant, and for most, it is temporary. Not so for Rose, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed. She plans to give up her baby because she knows she cannot be the mother it needs. But St. Elizabeth's is near a healing spring, and when Rose's time draws near, she cannot go through with her plans, not all of them. And she cannot remain forever untouched by what she has left behind . . . and who she has become in the leaving.

Average Customer Rating:

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Customer Rating:

This was my first Ann Patchett novel and I do have to say that I loved it. This book was magically written with a story line that was so unique compared to other novels that I have read lately. Rose is a hung woman, pregnant for the first time, who feels that she no longer loves her husband, and leaves town one afternoon never to return. Her destination is a the small town of Habit, KY, where St Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in located, in a grand hotel near the place where a natural healing spring once flowed. Rose arrives at St Elizabeth's, planning on staying until she has her baby and then leaving to make something of herself far away from her past. However, as time passes, Rose realizes that she cannot leave behind St Elizabeth's or her baby. In order to stay, and in hope of burying her past, Rose marries the handyman, a man twice her age, named Son. Son truly loves Rose and her daughter, Cecilia. The novel is told in three parts, and each narrator has his/her own distinct voice and story. At first, this worried me, because I had come extremely attached to Rose by the end of Part I. However, the second part of the story told by Son, was just as captivating as Rose's story. Each part tells a new addition to the story, further exposing us the distress that Rose was under at the time of her pregnancy and throughout the years that she stays at St. Elizabeth's. After reading this book, I plan on continuing to further explore Ann Patchett's writing and her other novels, three of which I've already obtained.

If I could give it a zero, I would.	Customer Rating:
I could write many lines about how much I disliked this novel, but I would be taking up too much of your time. I really did not care for the writing style. It seemed way too slow for me.

....as compelling as her other work!	Customer Rating:
I still have a couple of disks to go, but am as entralled as ever with Ann Patchett's writing. Her descriptive powers are amazing and I have almost instant empathy with her characters. The only piece of hers I have not yet read or listened to is "What Now?" and I have purchased that, too. I can't wait to get in my car so I can get back into the story.

A treat...	Customer Rating:
This book is beautifully written and incredibly thoughtful. I think it's interesting how I was able to go from feeling close to the narrator, Rose, to feeling disdain for her once Cecelia took over the narration. I love most of Ann Patchett's books, but this is my favorite (to date!).

What a Disappointment!

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I found this book to be a huge disappointment on so many levels. First of all, the characters are boring, except for Cecelia, the daughter. However, by the time I got to her portion of the story (which came last), This is the kind of book you keep reading with the hope that it will get better. The story line was very interesting, but the story itself failed to deliver on every level. The characters I did find interesting and wish I could have found out more about were all marginal in the book and we never got to hear their stories. Additionally, there was no conflict to speak of ... no drama. Just long boring litanies told by the three main characters. The only character I developed any feelings for was Thomas and I had continued reading the book with the hope that I would see Rose get her due for what she did to him, but that never came. The ending was extremely unsatisfying and left me with many unanswered questions. It felt like the author herself had grown tired of the whole story and just wanted to be done with it as quickly as possible.