Absence of Grace

The memory of an act committed when she was nineteen has woven a dark thread through Clen McClendon’s life. It is a darkness Clen ignores until the discovery of her husband’s infidelity propels her into a quest for her own redemption and forgiveness. Leaving her old life, she begins a search for a place to call home and a new way to live, but her journeying provides few answers and peace remains elusive, even during the time she spends in an abbey. Clen then makes a decision that is both desperate and random to go to Wrangell, Alaska. There she will meet Gerrum Kirsey and learn that choices are never truly random and they always have consequences.

Former Seattle attorney, Gerrum Kirsey, is of the opinion that most people who end up in Alaska are running from something. Including him. And this appears to be true for the aloof woman who has come to Wrangell as the Bear Lodge’s summer cook. When Gerrum learns that Clen applied for the job from an abbey, and that the owner of the Lodge remembers her visiting years ago with a husband, he’s intrigued and determined to discover the woman behind the walls.

The memory of an act committed when she was nineteen has woven a dark thread through Clen McClendon’s life.

It is a darkness Clen ignores until the discovery of her husband’s infidelity propels her into a quest for her own redemption and forgiveness. Leaving her old life, she begins a search for a place to call home and a new way to live, but her journeying provides few answers and peace remains elusive, even during the time she spends in an abbey. Clen then makes a decision that is both desperate and random to go to Wrangell, Alaska. There she will meet Gerrum Kirsey and learn that choices are never truly random and they always have consequences.

Former Seattle attorney, Gerrum Kirsey, is of the opinion that most people who end up in Alaska are running from something. Including him. And this appears to be true for the aloof woman who has come to Wrangell as the Bear Lodge’s summer cook. When Gerrum learns that Clen applied for the job from an abbey, and that the owner of the Lodge remembers her visiting years ago with a husband, he’s intrigued and determined to discover the woman behind the walls.

The memory of an act committed when she was nineteen has woven a dark thread through Clen McClendon’s life.

It is a darkness Clen ignores until the discovery of her husband’s infidelity propels her into a quest for her own redemption and forgiveness. Leaving her old life, she begins a search for a place to call home and a new way to live, but her journeying provides few answers and peace remains elusive, even during the time she spends in an abbey. Clen then makes a decision that is both desperate and random to go to Wrangell, Alaska. There she will meet Gerrum Kirsey and learn that choices are never truly random and they always have consequences.

Former Seattle attorney, Gerrum Kirsey, is of the opinion that most people who end up in Alaska are running from something. Including him. And this appears to be true for the aloof woman who has come to Wrangell as the Bear Lodge’s summer cook. When Gerrum learns that Clen applied for the job from an abbey, and that the owner of the Lodge remembers her visiting years ago with a husband, he’s intrigued and determined to discover the woman behind the walls.

More than 200 Four and Five-Star Reviews on Amazon and Goodreads

Absence of Grace is a riveting read of personal struggle, very much recommended reading. Able Greenspan, Midwest Review July 2012

There's so much I would want to tell you about this book, but I wouldn't want to spoil any of it. It's no spoiler to say it's a romance, but one with unusual characters, set in an unusual but very well drawn location. It's no spoiler to say the characters are complex, flawed, and utterly human. It's no spoiler to say that the writing is both beautiful and poetic. It would be a spoiler to say anything about the twist, though, so I'll shut up. Jason Black, Plot to Punctuation