Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: May 2010
Reviewed by Jen Roman
Twelve-year-old Nora is sent from London by her mother to live as an evacuee in the countryside of Kent. Upset at being abandoned, she decides that she hates her mother. At Kent, in the “round up,” Nora is chosen by a pastor and his family to live with them. She is elated that they have a daughter, Grace, who is Nora’s age. She loves the countryside and all it has to offer: clean air, places to play, food, daily home-school lessons from Reverend Rivers, and, most of all, people who love her. After a while, however, Nora notices that Reverend Rivers spends all of his days at the church and Mrs. Rivers locks herself into the music room, where she plays the piano over and over and over. Left to their own devices, Nora and Grace spend their days reading, swimming, exploring, and just enjoying life. As they grow into their teens, however, Nora is guilt-ridden because she starts to have romantic feelings toward Grace. She never acts upon them, however, but instead hides them and is consumed by guilt.
The story is told alternately from Nora as a young girl and Nora as a cancer-stricken, older woman who tells her story to the young, single, homeless mother who lives across the street from her. She invites the young woman to live with her and as their lives intertwine, she shares some of her deepest, darkest secrets.
From the way this book is described, one would think it has to do with the guilt and conflicts one feels as a lesbian in the early 1940s. While this is certainly a point of the story, it mostly revolves around the coming-of-age moments that shape Nora’s life. It is more about loving someone so deeply and honestly than about a sexual preference. It shows the wonderful bonds of friendship and how those bonds hold no matter what. Nora demonstrates just how strong those bonds can be.
The book is well-written and told in a very honest voice. The reader sees the good and the bad of people, and how others react to such behaviors. The story is immediately captivating and heartwarming while moving along at a good pace. As each chapter ends, the reader is left eager to continue to the next one. It’s definitely a bittersweet story.
There really isn’t any foul language in the story, as Nora is sheltered quite a bit by a religious family. Even later, when she is living in London, there is rarely any swearing. Sex is implied in both a young girl’s pregnancy and the abundance of hookers standing in doorways of the London streets, but there are no graphic scenes to cause discomfort. There is one scene in which a young lady has an abortion, and subsequently bleeds out, and that can be uncomfortable for the reader, especially one who does not want to read about abortions. It deals with many adult themes and should not be read by children. Otherwise, the book is fairly innocuous. Days of Grace is an interesting, bittersweet book that makes for a fairly quick read.
























Genre: Chicklit
Genre: Chicklit


