If you ever feel like escaping to a simpler life in a small town, pick up a copy of The Grace Writers and journey with Claire Baldwin to Walters Bluff, a rural community in Washington. You’ll meet Amos, a curmudgeon with a warm heart who can’t say a kind word. And Guy, who greets everyone with “God bless you.” His wife, Bertie, exudes love and welcomes everyone with a hug. When ladies from the church invite Claire to The Grace Writers, she cringes. Would they be hypocrites like those who defended a deacon who drove while drunk and killed her parents? What she finds is Josephine, a judgmental grouch; Ella Mae, the best baker in Walters Bluff, whose well-earned conceit sparks a competitive streak in Claire; and Rhonda, the local historian who publishes a book.
And then there’s Harley, a drinking bar owner befriended by Claire’s husband, the new police chief. She bristles when she sees him, but through his friendliness over weekly dinners, he worms his way into her heart. She decides to pursue a dream and partners with two sisters struggling to find success for their family’s flower shop.
Healing soothes Claire’s pain and grief, and then tragedy strikes again.
In her debut novel, Heather Morse Alexander creates a community where everyone wants to live akin to the town of Mitford in Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Join Claire as she meets the colorful, delightful, and eccentric characters of Walters Bluff and grapples with grief, pain, and redemption.
~ Julie McDonald Zander, award-winning author of The Reluctant Pioneer and Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence
