Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

Most of us can look back over our lives and recall an event or an experience that changed us and moved us from the innocence of youth to a new awareness of the realities of life that can be cruel and painful.  William Kent Krueger in his novel, Ordinary Grace, tells his story through Frank who looks back 40 years to the summer when he was 13, the summer of his passage to maturity.  The novel could be described as a mystery, but it is so much more even though Frank and his brother, Jake, find their lives changed by the five mysterious deaths in their small Minnesota town in the summer of 1961.  They find they are tied in one way or another to each of the people lost through accidental deaths, naturally caused deaths, suicidal deaths and murder. It becomes clear that they must understand the reason for each death in order to accept it.  Solving the mystery is not nearly as important as the realizations Frank and Jake make about the people in their lives.  The realization that no one is perfect and that the people who might have been heroes to a child (parents, soldiers, policemen and ministers) are not beyond sinning.  During the summer of discoveries, Frank comes to see that everyone is in need of redemption and "ordinary grace."  Despite the dark subject matter, the story is uplifting.  Krueger does a masterful job of showing the "gray areas" of life.  We are reminded that none of us live in a vacuum; we all face disappointment and despair, but we do have the benevolence of God's "awful grace" to bear us up even under the most dire circumstances.  This is a novel that stays with you long after you finish reading.  It comes to you in quiet moments inviting you to read passages again just for the joy of the experience and the enlightenment the book offers page after page. As with all great literature, this book opens us to new understandings and more compassion for all.

The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah

For historical fiction lovers, Kristen Hannah's The Nightingale is a must read.  World War II is the setting of this novel, but the action takes place in France not Germany or England which are much more widely seen as the epicenter of the war.  Additionally, the main characters are not soldiers fighting in the trenches or on bloody battlefields, but instead two sisters who we find take very different approaches to the occupation of the German army in France.  Our main characters, Vianne and Isabelle, are sisters but they are completely different in nature, and it is this difference on which that the novel focuses.  The consequences of the women's actions that seem to be dictated by their very personalities are revealed to the reader in an ever devolving, war ravaged France.  The narration of the story tells the story from one sister's point of view and then switches to the other's.  Both sister's stories are dramatic and heroic in their own way. The moral dilemma of each woman becomes more and more apparent as the novel continues.  The choices that each has to make become more and more heart-breaking.  The tragedies that they must face become more and more devastating. It must be said however, the novel does not leave readers sad and depressed despite Vianne statement that, "grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us."  In the end, we see each of the characters came to believe that life must be lived with hope and love and that "love has to stronger that hate, or there is no future for us."