A Peculiar Grace: A Novel [Paperback]

Jeffrey Lent (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2008

An unforgettable tale of love, family secrets, and the hold of the past in a family of New England artists,A Peculiar Graceis the latest triumph from the author ofIn the Fall, hailed byThe Christian Science MonitorandThe New York Timesas one of the best books of the year. Hewitt Pearce lives alone in his family home, producing custom ironwork and safeguarding a small collection of art his late father left behind. When Jessica, a troubled young vagabond, washes up in his backwoods one morning, Hewitt’s hermetic existence is challenged. As he gradually uncovers Jessica’s secrets and reestablishes contact with a woman he thought he had lost twenty years before, Hewitt must confront his own dark history and rediscover how much he craves human connection.A Peculiar Graceis a remarkable achievement by one of our finest authors, an insightful portrait of family secrets, and a rich tapestry filled with characters who have learned to survive by giving shape to their losses.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Family-fracturing secrets are at the heart of Lent's luminous third novel, a transcendent story about the healing power of love and art. Two decades after an intense romance curdles, hermetic Hewitt Pearce is living in his family's rural Vermont home, firing up his tractor for the occasional two-mile trip to the village, sometimes hiding in his hay barn, and producing prized custom ironwork when the spirit moves him. Upheaval arrives in the form of Jessica, a psychologically troubled waif with mysterious connections to Hewitt's late artist father. Then Hewitt learns that Emily, the girl he loved years earlier and whose life he has tracked from afar, is now a widow. Evocative flashbacks reveal his family's turbulent history, including Hewitt's days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll on a commune and his dark period of "death-by-whisky drinking" after breaking up with Emily. This sympathetic depiction of a decent man wrestling with his demons while deciding whether to revive an old love or open himself to a new lover is less visceral than Lent's astonishing debut, In the Fall, and less gritty than his second novel, Lost Nation, but it's no less magisterial and every bit as beautifully written. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Hewitt Pearce has sequestered himself on land in Vermont cherished by his family for generations. There his late father, a renowned painter, found sanctuary after suffering a horrific loss before his son was born. Now Hewitt, a fine-arts blacksmith, is brooding and ornery in his solitude as he, too, mourns love lost not in tragedy but in folly. Consequently, he is leery of getting drawn into the chaos surrounding the mysterious, feral young woman who appears out of the blue. After two highly praised historical novels, Lent presents a commanding present-day drama of rootedness and disconnection, desire and fear, inheritance and freedom. Drawing on his astute perceptions of family, the "stone of memory," the weight of secrets, the toll of love, and the solace of art (his depictions of Hewitt crafting his exquisitely designed ironwork are profound in their implications), Lent has forged a many-faceted plot, vital characters, convincing psychology, and finely articulated spiritual musings. Although the melodramatic complications can be ponderous, Lent's prose is lustrous—rich in supple dialogue and finely patterned imagery. Echoing the rhapsodic specificity and gravitas of Steinbeck and Kent Haruf, Lent has constructed a resolute tale of paradise lost and found. Seaman, Donna --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802143660
• ISBN-13: 978-0802143662
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,305,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I hoped it would be..., August 24, 2007

By 

Thirtysomething Reader (North America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Peculiar Grace: A Novel (Hardcover)

Jeffrey Lent is a great author, and his first two novels were supernaturally good, but 'A Peculiar Grace' disappointed me. I was glad I forced myself to wait and get it from the library rather than buying it, because I won't want to read it again anytime soon.

What was wrong with it... the main character, Hewitt, seemed like a modern-day reincarnation of the man 'Blood' from 'Lost Nation.' An older guy, tough, but seriously flawed, all torn up by the loss of his first love. Then, the woman who comes into his orbit (Jessica Kress) has far too much in common with the young woman Blood had dragged with him. So we basically get to watch the older guy go through his rehabilitation thanks to the influence of the sexually edgy young woman, in both novels.

Also, I thought that some of the dialog between Hewitt and Jessica, in the early stages of their relationship, was so overheated that it verged on corny.

All that is not to say the novel isn't any good, though. The bar was set pretty high by the author's previous novels. 'A Peculiar Grace' is still better than many things out there, but you'll probably enjoy it more if you haven't read 'Lost Nation' yet.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, August 11, 2007

By 

P. Bott "book worm" (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Peculiar Grace: A Novel (Hardcover)

The writing is poetic and the story enthralling. I just finished reading this novel which I must say was impossible to put down - and I've done just that with quite a few of late. The narrative of this story draws you in and you just want to linger there a while. Read along and then hitting a sentence that, perhaps because of it's simplicity, hits with a force that causes you to pause and think.

There are novels read for the excitement of the story line, or suspense of the mystery, but here it was that and so much more in the prose that was a pure enjoyment unto itself. If I were to compare it to another novel "Gilead" comes to mind. Stories that are a pure pleasure to read and you wish didn't have to end.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the usual Lent, November 13, 2007

By 

Get Out in the Sun "Historical Fiction Fan" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Peculiar Grace: A Novel (Hardcover)

Jeffrey Lent's previous novels deal savagely with the past. This one takes a turn in the present with less of a punch that I have come to expect from Lent. A romance between teens turns sour, causing the hero of the book to turn melancholy and pitiful. Somehow unable to break away from an idealized version of his past love, he suffers from family desertion, isolation, and apparently, alcohol dependency. Faced with this girl-turned-woman many years down the road, he realizes (finally) that she isn't the one for him after all. The young girl who appears unbidden at his secluded farm has more of a past than he can initial deal with, but even she doesn't bring any of the cutting edge action that I was hoping for. I can only hope Lent returns to his fine, if somewhat bloody, historical fiction in his next endeavor.