Restoring Grace [Hardcover]

Katie Fforde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006

Grace Soudley's life is coming apart at the seams. Recently divorced, she is still living in the beautiful yet crumbling old house her godmother left her, but unless she can find a fortune, the house will disintegrate around her.
Artist Ellie Summers' life is unraveling too. She's pregnant, but her boyfriend is less than enthusiastic about parenthood, and her parents are not exactly inviting her to move back home. She has to come up with a new plan. Fast.
Ellie needs a place to stay; Grace needs a lodger. Each of them needs a friend, and together they begin the work of fixing up the house. But then an unexpected and disconcertingly handsome man arrives on the scene, apparently determined to help. And when Grace discovers some beautiful and potentially valuable paintings hidden behind the tattered dining-room curtains, the whole business of restoration starts to get serious....
This fresh, funny romance from bestselling novelist Katie Fforde offers charm, wit, and restorative new beginnings for all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This lighthearted British romance has all the elements of a modern fairy tale: a huge, empty, centuries-old house left by a godmother, an evil older sister and a beleaguered (former) stepdaughter. But despite the fairy tale trappings, the heart of the book is the very modern friendship that develops between the house's inheritor, Grace Ravenglass (or Soudley—she's recently divorced), and the house's lodger, Ellie Summers, newly pregnant with her irresponsible boyfriend's child. Together, the two women and Grace's ex-husband's daughter, Demi, form an unlikely family in the rundown mansion. Between overtures from kind Irishman Flynn Cormack, Grace deals with problems domestic and familial: dry rot, pressure from her sister to sell the house, and recently discovered painted panels that may be worth a fortune if she can get them restored. Ellie works to make their cold, ramshackle home more livable, in the process discovering a love interest, while Demi deals with adolescent resentment toward her parents, both busy with new romances. It's amusing and gratifying, with an ending worthy of a fine murder mystery, in which all the characters gather in one room and the pieces are precipitously wrapped up with a round of happily ever afters. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Fforde's novels are such a comfort, much in the same way that old-fashioned cozy mysteries are. Nothing too terrible happens, and the world is all right in the end. Her plucky, resourceful women are always up to the challenge, whatever it might be. Restoring Grace fits the pattern. Grace, Ellie, and Demi are a bit wobbly on their own, but when banded together they can surmount all obstacles. Neglectful mothers, bad divorces, unplanned pregnancies, greedy relatives, even dry rot all lose their power to ruin lives when faced by these three gals. When the intrigue associated with mysterious hidden paintings and covert romance is added to the mix, there are enough plot entanglements to keep the reader happily occupied until, as always, everything is sorted out. Fforde also writes with a chipper upbeat Britishness that adds to her novel's quotient of amusing diversion. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312358776
• ISBN-13: 978-0312358778
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #821,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well done Katie!, June 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Restoring Grace (Hardcover)

Much of life is unreliable and disappointing - but Katie Fforde books don't fall into this category. Katie does have somewhat of a regular format - protagonists that seem ill-suited, but turn out to be perfect. And there's never any London glamour and glitz. But another always-present element of the Fforde formula is sold writing, great plot lines, witty (yet believable) dialog. Restoring Grace is no exception - in fact, its one of the best of her books, certainly the best one of recent years. That's not to say that Paradise Fields or Highland Fling weren't good, they were - but Restoring Grace is fabulous. So, what's it about? Grace has been left at odds - her ex-husband has left her with a nice bed, great linens, and a historical house that's rotting away, requiring repairs far beyond her marriage settlement or her meager earnings as a wine writer. Ellie is an artist with a handsome, charismatic boyfriend - who has no interest in becoming a father. Which is problematic, since Ellie is pregnant and determined to have the baby. Ellie and Grace fall together and discover some potentially valuable paintings in Grace's rotting home. Along the way, they also discover a surly-on-the-outside, solid-gold-at-heart local land developer and a prickly-on-the-outside but (yes, here it comes) solid-gold-at-heart art restoration expert - and you know where this is going, but the fun is all in getting there. Add in Grace's horrid siblings, very weird ex-husband (what DID she see in him), ex-husband's first wife, ex-step-daughter - well, a cast of characters that goes on and adds to the humor of the story. And as the extra icing on the cake - Flynn (surly land developer) is really the best "leading man" Fforde's written in years. His character (and attractiveness) just leap off the page. A must read, whether you're a long-time Fforde fan or just discovering her for the first time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet, September 9, 2005

By 

E. Northrop (MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Restoring Grace (Paperback)

I had only read Paradise Fields by the author when I found this title at the library. I enjoyed PF so much that I knew I was going to get lucky with this one and I certainly did. I loved the way Ellie and Grace became fast friends, and I loved how honorable Grace was without coming across as pious. Certainly the plot was fairly predictable, but I had such a good time reading it that it didn't matter. For "chick lit", Fforde's characters were fleshed-out just enough for me to feel like I "knew" them. The secondary characters were a little two-dimensional (Allegra and Hermia), but everything else about the book was so charming that again, it didn't make a difference. I've got two more of Fforde's titles to read next and I am really looking forward to it. I know they will be a pleasant diversion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tedious reading, July 5, 2009

By 

L. Ralston (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Restoring Grace (Hardcover)

I was in the middle of a nice European cruise and wanted some light reading for those down times one finds on a cruise. "Restoring Grace" was in the ship's library and the cover looked nice, so even though I'd never read any of Fforde's books, I'd give it a try.

I almost never stop reading a book in the middle, but I can't tell you how many times I almost did with this one. If I hadn't been nearing the end of the cruise without time to start a new book, I would have chucked it after about 5 chapters.

The story is a good one, but the characters drove me around the bend having the same conversations over and over and over. I like seeing a nice balance between narration/exposition and conversation. I even like it a little heavy on the conversation, if it makes sense. But these girls went round and round... Grace should get a boyfriend, Grace is/is not still in love with Edward, it's too soon for a boyfriend, etc... Over and over. And over.

It sounds like many readers have enjoyed Fforde's other books, so I might give her another try. But based on this novel, I don't think I'm going to be a fan.