Girls Like Us by Gail Giles
I knew going in that this book was going to touch me in some way, and I was right.
Told alternating between Biddy and Quincy, recent high school graduates who happen to have been "Speddies," or special ed students. Biddy has moderate retardation, was abandoned by her mother, and left with her granny, who treated her badly. She was also gang raped, got pregnant, and had to give her baby up. Quincy suffered brain damage when she was assaulted by her drug addict mother's boyfriend with a brick. When they graduated, they both we on their own, and one of their teachers arranged for them to live together and have jobs.
They live in a garage apartment belonging to a wealthy older woman named Elizabeth. Biddy works as a companion to Miss Lizzy, and does some cleaning. Quincy does the cooking, and also works at the grocery store. Quincy has a giant chip on her shoulder, and it takes being sexually assaulted by a jerk she used to work with and his friend to get her to realize that in Biddy and Elizabeth, she has people who care about her.
Despite the tragedies these women face, this was a good book. Broke my heart several times, but it was worth the read.
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