I really enjoyed this fast and easy read. Its a story of a man who works for a wealthy woman and lives in an apartment above the garage and wakes one morning to find a baby in a cardboard box left on the step. He gets a baby book and decides to raise the baby as his own, and the elder woman ends up helping him. Very likeable characters, very descriptive dialogues... but almost "Garrison Keillor" like in describing details. Could have been said much faster. And the dialogue flip flops from past t More...

a story of unconventional relationships that grow in unlikely places – stories of regret and wishes – stories of improvement – simultaneous intertwining of past and present – challenges some traditional notions and judgments

Great characters. Interesting story. I already miss everyone.

I really enjoyed this book. I love how the woman keeps on having flashbacks of her past. there are a lot of really well written lines in this book as well. The actual story isn't half as good as the brief glances off the past. Reading this book made me treasure my memories that much more, the good and the bad. I recommend this book to everyone.

I decided to read a book by Anna Quindlen after hearing her speak last fall. She's a wonderful speaker and a great journalist. However, based on this book, I don't think that writing fiction is her forte. I very much enjoyed the story in "Blessings," but didn't really enjoy her writing style all that much. As she is telling about future events, her characters reminisce about their past in a way that I found distracting. I do think the story would make a good movie, but can't recommend the book a More...

This is a gentle, charming, book that I enjoyed even more on the second reading. It takes place on a lovely estate named Blessings. One morning, the caretaker of the estate, Skip Cuddy, finds a newborn baby left in a cardboard box on his doorstep. Skip, a lonely man with a difficult past, decides to keep the baby and, despite making mistakes, he soon learns how to care for her. He is aided in his endeavours by Lydia Blessing the owner of the estate. Lydia is a crusty old lady, with a difficult p More...

Blessings is an antiquated estate belonging to the elderly descendant Lydia Blessing, and attended to by her contentious housekeeper, Nadine, and newly-hired groundskeeper Skip Cuddy. Life at Blessings revolves around the routine and social etiquette of a by-gone era, which Lydia refuses to move beyond. When Skip discovers an abandoned newborn child on his literal doorstep, he inexplicably chooses to keep the baby. He was only recently released from a jail sentence for being at the wrong place More...

I wasn't sure I would enjoy this story, the first I've read of Anna Quindlen's novels. But it didn't take me long to fall in love with her characters and get wrapped in their complicated histories.

Lydia Blessing, whose house has taken on her surname though her daughter hasn't, reminds me a lot of my own mother -- opinionated, set in her ways, and with a sound and definite knowledge of what is right and proper and what is just plain wrong.

The life and love that one unwanted baby brought to the Bl More...

I really enjoyed this. Quindlen has a strong, clean prose style that skillfully picks the telling details that vividly evoke both setting and character. Blessings is the name of an estate in upstate New York. There are passages that lyrically put before your eye the pond with snapping turtles and leaping trout, the herons, the apple orchard. And the characters are well-drawn too, the two major characters are a study in contrasts. There's eighty-year-old Lydia Blessings, born to wealth and her yo More...

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed “Every Last One” by Anna Quindlen earlier this year, I was keen to investigate her back catalogue and I began this week with “Blessings”, published in 2003.

Blessings is the name of the estate where Lydia Blessing, an elderly widow, leads the life of a semi-recluse with occasional interruptions by her curmudgeonly cook, Nadine and ex-con caretaker, Skip Cuddy. The status quo is broken by the unexpected arrival of an abandoned new-born baby girl, left on the ste More...

This book was a selection for my daughter's book club. Let me say straight off that I loved it!

A baby is left by the garage of the local "big house" by a couple of teenagers, and found by the handyman who lives over the garage. A strange complicity develops between him and the house's owner, and two people from opposite sides of the social divide enter into a friendship that reconciles their own pasts.

So now I'm going to talk about the rules it breaks. You get a lot of talk on writer blogs abou More...

The story starts out when two teens drive up to a fancy schmancy estate called "Blessings" and leave a mysterious box.

The newest caretaker, Skip Cutty, discovers the box. When he sees the beautiful baby girl bundled inside he impulsively decides to keep and care for her. Because he's an ex-convict on parole (he's a good guy but was in the wrong place at the wrong time) he knows this is the last thing he should be doing but his heart tells him it is right. So Skip securely straps the baby, who he More...

Blessings is the third Anna Quindlen novel that I've read and enjoyed. She is such an eloquent writer with accurate descriptions of the silent suffering and happiness that occurs in the human psyche. I enjoyed this story of Lydia Blessing and Skip Cuddy who through the nuturing and love of an abandoned baby girl make an usual "family." Much of the story takes place in a bittersweet remembering that occurs in Lydia's mind as she reviews the last eighty years of her life. The reader is touched as More...

Blessings is the swankiest house/property around. The old house has been in the Blessing family for as long as anyone can remember; and Skip, fresh out of prison, has found employment there. He also found a baby in a box left outside his apartment over the garage. Skip decides to care for the baby on his own, but is careful not to let Lydia Blessing, his employer, find out about the newborn. Lydia Blessing has lived at Blessings her entire adult life, and now she mainly lives in the past. In her More...

I love Anna Quindlen's writing. I've always liked her columns in Newsweek magazine although I don't remember if I've ever read one of her novels. I bought this book at an Oxfam shop only because she wrote it, because, honestly, the story didn't enthuse me that much when I read the back cover. But I was surprised because I really enjoyed it. The two main characters are a young man and an old woman, both of whom live on an estate called Blessings, he as the caretaker and she as the proprietor. A y More...

Original review posted here

Anna Quindlen is one of those authors who holds the power to knock the socks off of me. Every time I go to pick up one of her books I know that, at some point, I’m going to end up in tears – so I have to pace myself accordingly.

Blessings was no different. While it didn’t contain nearly the same amount of tragedy some of Quindlen’s other books have (Yes, Every Last One, I’m looking at you), it still had some heartbreaking moments, but, in true Quindlen style, I knew tha More...

There were times when I had a hard time putting this book down. I loved the characters - their quirks and imperfections, but I was also confused at times by the moving back and forth between past and present. It's told in the 3rd person but when the narration goes to the 80 year old woman character, her thoughts weave back and forth between past & present which though realistic, was confusing because I didn't know until I finished that section if it was really happening or something she was More...

A young man is trying to find himself by working as the groundskeeper at a large estate called "Blessings". He finds a newborn outside his garage one morning and the story evolves into how he tries to keep this baby while hiding it from the very old woman that lives on and owns the estate. It is a beautiful read on the nature of what makes us good, bad or idifferent.

My sister got me this book and i was like... alright, i will give it a try. It started off real slow and confusing for most part. But, somewhere down the melancholic tone, the pace shifted and created magic. I would have to say that reading this book makes you realize that love comes in different forms from different people- the kind they are capable of. It is not a happy ending but it is not something you would feel sad about either. Because, by the time you have reached the ending of the book, More...

A lovely book. Ms Quindlen's writing style is reminiscent of that of one of my favourite authors Rumer Godden. The plot is a framework for character development, and both plot and characters slowly open like a flower. Corny, I know, but hypnotic & beautifully done.
The basic plot is simple: town loser finds abandoned baby & falls in love with baby, cranky rigid old lady who is his employer becomes a part of the conspiracy to keep the baby a secret, and, yes, there is a girl. Around this f More...

I like this quiet, gentle, sweet book; the two main characters are a bit world-weary, having experienced harshnesses in life such that they don't take good for granted. They don't know each other at the outset of when this book is set; a baby is dropped off and they rebel at first individually, but for both it is a perfect element in their lives. And so far their fears prove unfounded and life is unfolding in its own, sweet way. Reminds me a bit of Margaret Atwood's 'Bean Trees', only that was m More...

When a baby is abandoned at Blessings, a rural country estate, it is up to the ex-con groundskeeper, the crotchety old woman who owns Blessings, and the daughter of the Korean housekeeper and the local garage owner to take care of her. Blessings is a story about the skeletons in our closets, and every mistake helps us to become the people we are today.

I have always enjoyed Anna Quindlen's columns in The New York Times and Newsweek. I once read her described as "the last sane person" and agreed strongly. The novel is not yet profound but enjoyable, particularly for those who enjoy family history, even someone else's.
* * *
Now, having finished the book, I am disappointed. The book begins with promise, but the "family mysteries" are evident early on and the "big reveal" is lacklustre and the conclusion is overlong and kind of aimless.
The book's p More...

I really liked the characters and plot of this book. I am really excited to read other books by this author based on this book. I would recommend this book to Kristin and to my Mom. The only thing that I would say that kept me from 5 stars was that I felt that the ending was not realistic-spolier alert-if a mother abondons a child without regard for safety, the system (law and child protection services) would not just hand the child back because she has now been located. We do not play gotcha in More...

I don't often give out five stars. This book really covered everything well--plot, character development, great pacing, no mushy/hollywood ending. Add to that that it was less than 230 pages! A great book. (copied review) Late one night, a teenage couple drives up to the big white clapboard home on the Blessing estate and leaves a box. In that instant, the lives of those who live and work there are changed forever. Skip Cuddy, the caretaker, finds a baby girl asleep in that box and decides he wa More...

I actually enjoyed this book, including the ending. It was an easy read with a back story that was brought out in a believable way throughout the book. I really liked the main characters but felt the weakness of the bookk was that I never really got to know the supporting characters.

This book tells the story of a baby left on the garage steps at the house named Blessings. The house's new caretaker, Skip, finds her and wants to raise her as his own. He hides her from the world until the house's mistress, Lydia, questions why he mows the lawn hunched over. (The baby is in a sling around him, and he's hiding her while mowing. He's too afraid to leave her alone.) Lydia decides to help him raise the baby, despite the fact that she is nearing 80 and hasn't been around a baby in s More...

I read this book for my book club. It is not a book I would have picked up on my own, and in the first few chapters I wasn't sure if was liking it. But I kept on reading and for some reason, it just really hit a cord for me. I loved how the old woman would reflect back on her life and think about why she is the way she is. It was confusing sometimes when the book would switch from past to present to another past and back, but once I got the flow of the writing, I was able to follow along and lov More...

A young mother leaves her baby on someone's doorstep, and this book is primarily about the people who take the baby in. This is one of my all time top 10 or 15 reads. She writes very beautifully - lots of her novels are good, but I think this is her best.