Ordinary Grace

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, is a beautifully written hard to put down novel full of twists and turns. William Kent Krueger is mostly know for his multiple-award-winning Cork O’Connor series. Ordinary Grace is a stand alone novel and is the Winner of the 2014 EDGAR Award for Best Novel, a Winner of the 2014 DILYS Award and was A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2013.

This book is narrated by Frank Drum, 40 years after a fateful summer when he was thirteen years old in New Bremen, Minnesota. This novel is a coming of age novel yet at the same time it is a mystery and deals with deaths that rocked the small community. The book opens with the death of a young boy who is killed on the town’s railroad tracks. This young boy’s tragic death is just the first, but as the narrator informs the reader, the saddest death is yet to come. Each of the members of Frank’s family will react in different ways to the events of the summer of 1961, as will the other members of the community. Deaths which assumed many forms and affected young Frank deeply. This book is a look at tragic loss and how it affects not only families but the community as a whole. Young and old, rich and poor, no one can escape the mysterious tragedies of that fateful summer.

Frank Drum is the son of a Methodist Minister and a Veteran of World War 2, who proceeds over three church congregations. His Mother heads up each Churches’ choir and his older sister, a gifted pianist, is Julliard-bound and his stuttering younger brother is very smart for his young age. During that fateful summer of 1961, Frank finds himself thrust into a world of mystery, crime, secrets, prejudice, and lies. This book also examines how the members of Frank’s family deals with loss. Can Frank’s Father, a Man of God, still maintain his faith? What will happen if his Wife abandons her faith? How can children maintain their innocence after all they have seen and learned?

This book was very simple yet very elegant at the same time. I had a hard time putting this book down. I wanted to keep reading until the very last page. I found myself thinking about this novel long after I read the last page. William Kent Krueger introduced a cast of memorable characters, some lovable and some not at all likable. All are important to the story. Issues such as prejudice, social class, sexual orientation, and young love are also explored in this novel.

I highly recommend this moving and beautifully novel.