Ordinary Grace @WmKentKrueger @AtriaBooks #mystery #crime #familyties #morality @absltmom

I have my very good friend, Jan, to thank for recommending this gem to me. It was well worth her glowing review for it fulfilled all the wonderful things that she and many others have said.

“The dead are never far from us. They’re in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath, one final puff of air.”

After reading this author’s, This Tender Land, I knew I needed to pick up Ordinary Grace. Books from author’s that are written from the heart are definitely ones that earn both my love and respect for what author’s places upon a page. It is evident in this book Mr Krueger has put both his heart and soul into its creation. This is a book that touches the reader’s heart in so many places and leaves one disappointed when all the words have been said, and the last chapter read.

It’s 1961, in a rural town in southern Minnesota, as Frank Drum now fifty three, looks back upon his life particularly the year he was thirteen. In that year many heart rending things happened to Frank and his family. Frank’s dad was a minister, his mom a somewhat distant and frustrated wife and mother, his beloved sister, Ariel, and his younger brother who stutters but adores his older brother and sister are the family he reflects upon.

The descriptions of life during this time are truly wonderful and each member of the cast of characters is presented so that their humanity and also their human frailties are shown. When tragedy strikes the Drum family, the author guides us through how each and every person faces adversity. Everyone, the town included, are shown to jump to conclusions and succumb to gossip and innuendo.

Yes, this is a mystery story, but in reality it is so much more. It shines a powerful light on family relationships, the things that make us tick, the things that hurt and harm us, and the joy that often occurs as one realizes that they have come from calamity and will survive. for going forward is often a miracle when all is dark around you. “The miracle is this: that you will rise in the morning and be able to see again the startling beauty of the day.”

If you are looking for an extremely wonderful, loving look at family, small town relationships, and faith that behind adversity, I can’t recommend this book more highly as it is one not to be missed.

and here’s the author:

Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, William Kent Krueger briefly attended Stanford University—before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at freelance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He currently makes his living as a full-time author. He’s been married for over 40 years to a marvelous woman who is a retired attorney. He makes his home in St. Paul, a city he dearly loves.

Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last nine novels were all New York Times bestsellers.

Ordinary Grace, his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. The companion novel, This Tender Land, is scheduled for publication in September 2019.