"Stunningly raw and achingly real, this coming of age story set at the beginning of the 20th century in New England has been chosen as a LoveReading Star Book.
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Prepare for your heart to ache while falling in love with the beautiful writing, the authenticity, and the consideration taken with this emotionally compelling novel. During a New England winter in 1913, Jeanne turns 16, a time when her story changes and marks her forever. This may be a novel, but author Meredith Miller has created a tale that feels even more real than life itself. Jeanne narrates her own story while looking back from later years, so, I knew from the beginning of the novel that she survives and yet I was on tenterhooks throughout. Other people’s stories bleed onto the pages in the third person, setting into stone the pain of this community. The sense of place and natural world is beautifully created and so essential in this tale, sitting in the background yet forever a part of these people. A matter of fact telling balances against the eloquence of the story, as it looks as what happens to those who slip through the net of conformity. This novel will stay with me, and so as well as a Liz Pick of the Month, it’s also a LoveReading Star Book. Cold Grace is an unforgettably heartbreaking tale of love and family, set in a time that feels as though its a featherlight touch away. Highly recommended.
A story of survival and humanity set in early 1900s New England. Miller explores themes of race, disability, eugenics and rural life on the fringes of society.
"A woman’s body is a machine specially designed for producing consequences.”
Winter closes in on a valley in northern New England where a violent history is about to repeat itself. The Allen family farm is nearly empty. Only Eddie, the youngest son, remains, living with his family’s ghosts near the woods he loves. In those woods he meets Jeanne Delaney, a girl he’s known all his life, now turning into a woman. This is not the first time that Eddie’s people have come into contact with Jeanne’s, though. Their families are already tied together by a violent past.
For readers of Where the Crawdads Sing, Cold Grace is a dark historical novel defined by its frozen landscape. Both revenge tragedy and coming of age story, it tells of an isolated community haunted by the ghost of its own violence.
