The Mystery of Grace (Hardcover)

~ Charles de Lint (Author)
Key Phrases: hatch ring, hot rod club, The Mystery of Grace, Charles de Lint, Alverson Arms (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prolific Canadian fantasist de Lint, recently focused on YA (Dingo), returns to adult fiction with a supernatural love story set in the American Southwest and an odd afterlife. Following her death, auto restorer Altagracia "Grace" Quintero awakens in a timeless realm inhabited by her recently deceased neighbors. Briefly returned to our world during Halloween night, Grace falls in love with John, a young artist, and he returns the feeling even when he discovers her condition. As the obvious pun in the title indicates, this tale of attachments formed and relinquished is also about belief and hope. De Lint doesn't endorse any particular religious system, but he writes passionately about the individual's ability to discover an effective personal magic. The story develops through comforting, warm compassion to reach the inevitable, mostly satisfying solution. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Grace Quintero works at Sanchez Motor Works, customizing hot rods. Her whole world consists of her apartment building, the grocery store, the library, the record shop, and the local music hall. She misses her grandfather, the only person she was close to. She meets John at the music hall one night and has a feeling that they might have a relationship, not just a hookup. But there’s one problem. Grace is dead and trying to adjust to her “life” as a ghost. De Lint’s skillful depiction of people trying to resolve unfinished business, develop the courage to let some things go, and distinguish between the two draws the reader into a world that is neither life nor death. We agonize, in the classic sense, along with Grace and root for her resolution. This is a stand-alone work, unconnected to anything else de Lint has done before, but it should please his regular readers, and perhaps fantasy fans in general, no end. --Frieda Murray

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765317567
• ISBN-13: 978-0765317568
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #141,509 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his strongest, but a good read anyway., March 26, 2009

By	Sammey's Mom "Suzanne" (Colorado Springs) - See all my reviews

De Lint writes some of the finest urban fantasy around -- character driven, mystical, and with a deep faith in humanity's goodness. This foray into the Southwest lacks the depth of his Newford stories. Grace, his main character, has interesting quirks, but never attains the depth of some of his earlier heroines. Having found three unusual characteristics -- tattoos, hot rods and rockabilly -- De Lint seems to never quite get beyond them and, in fact, repeats these characteristics over and over again. The mystical qualities of life after death and the essences of faith, family and friendship are, as usual, fascinating and the ending remains a mystery (as it should). All the wonderful ambiguities of our humanity are here, but Grace lacks the strength to carry them on her own.
I recommend it to his fans, but it's not the best first novel for a newcomer to DeLint's work.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet and hopeful story, March 28, 2009

By	Debbie Savannah George "dsavannah.com" (rural Arkansas) - See all my reviews

Charles de Lint is one of my favorite authors. I have been anxiously anticipating this newest novel, and I was not disappointed. I enjoyed that CdL explored a different world than he usually does, but he stayed true to the urban fantasy genre. He also wrote about many of the themes he has tackled in the past - mystery, spirit, grace, hope, and one of the big questions - what happens when we die?

I somewhat agree with the other reviewer who said that Grace is somewhat one (three) -dimensional. You feel for her situation, and you feel for John, but you don't LOVE either of them, like you do with Jilly or some of CdL's other characters.

I gave "Grace" four stars instead of five because it's not as powerful as some of his other work, but it's a great book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ~ another must read ~, April 12, 2009

By	Kathleen Wagner "~have book~will read~" (SWPA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

There is a blurb on this book by Alice Hoffman. She said "Nobody does it better".
I don't usually put much stock in these author blurbs, but I have to say that I agree with this one.
I don't remember how I found Charles De Lint, but I am grateful that I did, because as Ms Hoffman says, nobody does it better.

This is the story of Grace. It is a story of live and love and faith, or the loss of it.
It is a story of friendship and commitment and death. Most of all, it is a story that reminds us, as do all of De Lint's books of the magic within us all.

Grace with her tattoos and her grease and her family, the good and the bad,, is each one of us. Grace is more aptly named than you might think at first look. Grace learns to open her heart wider than she ever believed that she could, and see truth.

This is yet another must read in a long line of must reads by this magical author.