Days of Grace-Catherine Hall

Days of Grace
Catherine Hall
Viking, May 27 2020, $25.95
ISBN: 9780670021765

As the Germans bomb London, many children are evacuated to the countryside. Twelve years old Nora Lynch is one such 12 year old. In Kent Vicar and Mrs. Rivers takes Nora into their home. Over the next few years she relishes living with the Lynch family and dreads going back to London as their daughter, Grace, who is her age, becomes like a sister to her; even as she begins to the notice the cracks in the idyllic family.

Five decades later, Nora is dying from cancer. She brings into her home a single teenage mom Rose and her newborn daughter whom she helped bring into the world as a midwife. Rose allows Nora to name her baby and the grateful elderly woman calls her Grace.

This is a fascinating tale with two subplots fifty years apart that ultimately converge in a terrific climax. Nora, Grace, and Rose are wonderful fully developed protagonists who make the duality entertaining to follow. Although the key support cast is not as solid as needed to further flesh out the tale, fans will relish the fabulous Days of Grace.

Harriet Klausner