Grace by Richard Paul Evans

Grace

by: Richard Paul Evans

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (October 7, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416550038
ISBN-13: 978-1416550037
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches

I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago and am sadly now just catching up on reviews. I have to start out by saying that as much as I was anticipating this release by Richard Paul Evans, I was not in the least bit disappointed. This is an author who has such a beautiful way with story telling and bringing words to life. Each year, at the holiday season, the excitement of knowing Mr. Evans will be gracing readers with a new tale, is one of the many high points of the season, for me.

Grace was a bit different, than previous works that I have read by this author, with it's underlying tragedy of unspoken child abuse. The setting is during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the troubles of other's is not openly discussed. Secrets are often hidden and life is a playacting of "all is well".

It is during this time that a young 14 year old boy, Eric, finds a classmate, Grace, rummaging around in the dumpster, where he works at an after school job. Eric kindly brings Grace in and gives her food. After she tells him that she is not going home, he decides that a safe place for her to "hide-out" would be his tree house at home. It is far back from the house and never visited by adults. With slight hesitation, Grace agrees and goes home with Eric.

During the short time that Grace and Eric are together, they form the deepest of bonds. The story of Grace's home life slowly surfaces and Eric is left with a tortured decision.

Grace is a novel of strong friendship, first love, strength and tragedy. Once I opened up this heart gripping book, I was unable to put it down. The emotions that ran through me, as I read, were those of laughter, hope, endurance, sadness, anger and horror. As I turned the final page, my heart ached for the life of this young girl. Grace will make a permanent home on my bookshelf and will be a book that I recommend with my highest enthusiasm. Though centered around the holiday season, Grace would easily be an excellent story any time of the year. Even now, thinking back upon the story, my heart aches and vivid memories rush within my mind.

This is a work of art, not easily forgotten.

*overall rating 5/5

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Product Description:

She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.

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