Grace

From Barnes & Noble

As the residents of a neighborhood in Cold Springs, Texas, wait out the waning months of World War II, Grace Gillian must cope not only with material difficulty (her husband has deserted her), but with the intrusion of her nosy neighbors and with her own troubled past.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

An absolute charmer... You can almost hear the screen doors slam and the ice clink in the glasses of tea.

Houston Chronicle

Jane Roberts Wood's Grace is as gentle and lovely as the name suggests.

Publishers Weekly

Wood has a rare gift for transcending the ordinary.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Straightforward, often lyrical prose and a sympathetic yet clear-eyed historical perspective characterize Wood's first novel following the successful trilogy that began with The Train to Estelline. This time, she focuses on four families living on the 900 block of Pine Street in the East Texas town of Cold Springs in 1944. As World War II rages in Europe, Grace Gillian, a 38-year-old high school English teacher with a "wild Irish streak," is at the center of things on the home front. Grace's husband, Bucy, has recently abandoned her, unleashing a torrent of local gossip, and much of the novel turns on the question of which future Grace will choose will it be with the bereaved husband of a recently deceased neighbor, a handsome sergeant she meets on a train or her own estranged husband? Equally affecting are the stories of Bobby Moore, an earnest teenager with poor eyesight who desperately wants to participate in the war effort, and Bobby's seemingly mismatched parents, his oh-so-Southern father, Robert, and his outsider Yankee mother, Barbara. Passion pops up in unusual places, even as the war years offer the opportunity for everyone to finally grow up. As the war drags to an end, the distant horrors of battle are having a profound effect on the town, and insanity is in the air, changing lives irrevocably. Like a good parent, Wood stands back and lets the sturdy characters of her smalltown novel discover just what's important. Despite the sadness of loss and the bitterness of hard-won knowledge, the novel's conclusion is jubilantly triumphant, as satisfying as a snapshot of V-E Day. (Apr. 3) Forecast: Wood's move to Dutton from the smaller U. of North Texas Press, which published her Estelline trilogy, should bring added attention and sales to this increasingly popular author. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Unabashedly romantic fiction from the author of Dance a Little Longer (1993), this time about a small-town enchantress and her swains, circa 1944. The few men and boys in Cold Springs, Texas, who haven't been drafted are madly in love with Grace Gillian, but they all prefer to admire her sensual, careless beauty from a safe distance. Even John Appleby, a handsome widower with whom she shared a night of blissful passion, now keeps her at arm's length. Grace can't understand it any more than she can understand why her husband, Bucy, abandoned her without a word of explanation. Everyone seems to think she's just too different somehow. Why, she painted her house an outrageous shade of turquoise, and she's forever quoting poetry to the dazzled teenagers in her English class—that's enough to arouse suspicion right there. Young Bobby Moore has a conspicuous crush on her, and so does his respectable father, not that Robert Moore IV would ever admit it to his wife, a free spirit in her own right and a Yankee to boot. Crisscrossing subplots emerge here, involving Bobby's unrequited love for the girl next door and his father's callous disregard for the family's much-loved black maid, who can't afford the surgery she needs. Grace is too preoccupied by her feelings for John to notice much of this; she's annoyed by his standoffishness and his sudden decision to join the Army. On impulse, she takes the train to New York to find her errant husband and meets a dashing military man en route. Smitten Sgt. Dan Manning vows to return for Grace by war's end. Shortly thereafter, Bucy agrees to a divorce. But here's the quandary: John Appleby corresponds faithfully, but his dispassionate, careful toneirks Grace. Looks like Dan's her man, but will he survive to make her his? A bit much, truth be told, what with all those swelling emotions, soldierly love letters, and lyrical quotes from WWII's greatest hits.