Wherever Grace Is Needed
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
In this thoroughly heartwarming novel, Elizabeth Bass-author of Miss You Most of All-creates an unforgettable story of friendship, compassion, and the extraordinary love that lies at the heart of every ordinary family.
When Grace Oliver leaves Portland for Austin, Texas, to help her father, Lou, recuperate from a car accident, she expects to stay just a few weeks. Since her mother's divorce thirty years ago, Grace has hovered on the periphery of the Oliver family. But now she sees a chance to get closer to her half-brothers and the home she's never forgotten.
But the Olivers are facing a crisis. Tests reveal that Lou, a retired college professor whose sharp tongue and tenderness Grace adores, is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Grace delays her departure to care for him, and is soon entwined in the complicated lives of her siblings-all squabbling over Lou's future-and of the family next door. . .
Ray West and his three children are reeling from a recent tragedy, particularly sixteen-year-old Jordan, whose grief is heightened by guilt and anger. Amid the turmoil, Grace not only gives solace and support, but learns to receive it. And though she came to Austin to reconnect with her past, she is drawn by degrees into surprising new connections.
With wit, wisdom, and unfailing insight, Elizabeth Bass tells a story of loving and letting go, of heartache and hope, and of the joy that comes in finding a place we can truly call home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Bass's well-intentioned but bland second novel (after Miss You Most of All), Grace Oliver must overcome the complicated relationship she's always had with her family. After her parents divorced, Grace went to Oregon with her mother, but yearned to live with her father and half-brothers in Austin, Tex. After her father is injured in an accident, Grace, now 30, finally gets the chance. She goes to Texas to care for him and discovers, to her horror, that this once brilliant college professor is deteriorating from Alzheimer's. Soon entering the picture are her father's neighbors, grieving widower Ray West and his three children: the recalcitrant teen Jordan, the awkwardly blossoming Lily, and the sweet-tempered Dominic. They're a handful, to say the least, and their disparate personalities will draw readers in. Mild conflict arises when Grace's brothers (a journalist and a doctor, both very busy) want to hire a nurse, but Grace would prefer to handle the care herself. Though the tale lacks tension, Bass draws her characters, particularly the adolescents, very well. With so many young people involved, it's good she's good at it.
