The characters and small town life seem authentic and perceptive.
Krueger does a masterful job of capturing the voices of Frank and his brother. Krueger states that setting the book during that era allowed him to examine memories and feelings from his adolescence, and to "explore themes that have been important to me all my life."Ĭlearly, those themes include wisdom and grace, along with faith and forgiveness. According to Krueger, the book is definitely not autobiographical, but he did "tap the deep roots" of his own experience, having grown up during that time period in several small towns. In Ordinary Grace, Krueger sends readers back to 1961, when the Minnesota Twins were playing their debut season and life in a small town included a soda fountain, barbershop, and church. At his church's service right after his daughter's death, Nathan starts his sermon by stating "I confess that I have cried out to God, 'Why have you forsaken me?'" He proceeds to deliver a beautiful and profound message of hope and belief. Nathan is the source of much wisdom, offering faith and leadership during tough times. Their mother, Ruth, resents her husband's choice to be a minister, and is seen as somewhat of a rebel because she smokes and doesn't seem to care about appearances. Nathan, their father, is the local Methodist minister. The book portrays Frank as a young teenage boy and his little brother, Jake, who try to make sense of the recent happenings in their family and their town. Further into the story, Frank's older sister, a talented singer who is headed to Juilliard, is murdered. Murder." The book begins with the death of one of the town's residents, a young schoolmate of Frank, who is killed on the railroad tracks outside of town. As the book's prologue states "It was a summer in which death, in visitation, assumed many forms. Frank is thirteen years old that summer of 1961, and lives with his family in New Bremen, a fictional town in the Minnesota River Valley.
The story is narrated by Frank Drum, forty years after the murder occurs. The book is a story of a murder in a small town, but rather than focusing on "whodunit," Ordinary Grace tells the story of that tragedy's effects on the town and its residents. Like most of the thirteen Cork O'Connor titles, Ordinary Grace is set in Minnesota. William Kent Krueger, author of the award-winning Cork O'Connor mystery series, has written a new novel, which is very different from his mysteries. Ordinary Grace: A Novel by William Kent Krueger Atria Books March 2013 307 pp. Book Review by Ann Jonas, Tradebook Buyer - CSB/SJU Bookstores
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