Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

In 1964, Dr. Maurice Temerlin took Lucy home for the first time.  He and his wife raised her as if she was their own.  Only she wasn’t.  She wasn’t their child.  She wasn’t even the same species as the Temerlins.  Lucy was a chimpanzee.  The Temerlins were engaged in an experiment – an ape language experiment and once Lucy became older and harder to control, she was shipped off to a chimpanzee rehabilitation center in Gambia.  Joey Willis can empathize with Lucy.  Deaf since the age of six, Joey is unable to communicate.  Her mother has forbidden her from learning sign language and she isn’t very good at reading lips.  All of that changes when she meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his baby chimp Sukari.  With them, Joey secretly learns sign language.  The world seems to be opening up for her.  But as her opportunities are expanding, Sukari and Charles’ are closing up.  Joey will do almost anything to save Sukari.