Ordinary Grace

It was that. And that was all. A grace so unremarkable that it was completely unnecessary to recall it. However, in the forty years since it was spoken, I have never forgotten a single word.

1961; New Bremen, Minn. The Twins were playing their first season, Halderson's Drugstore's soda counter was selling out of ice-cold root beers, and Hot Stuff comic books were a staple on every barbershop magazine rack. A nation led by a young, inexperienced president was experiencing a period of innocence and promise. However, it was a dismal summer for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum, during which death paid him many visits and took on various shapes. Unexpected. Natural. Murder and suicide.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family— which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother— he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Ordinary Grace, which occurs forty years after that tragic summer and told from Frank's point of view, is a very touching story of a youngster struggling to make sense of the world around him as he approaches young manhood. This remarkable book explores the awful cost of knowledge and the unending mercy of God.