House of Grace by Patricia M. Osborne; Finding Grace and Strength Through Adversity and Change
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum in this review but I can't make any promises. Please read at your own discretion.
One thing that can be said about the life of Grace Granville, the protagonist of Patricia M Osborne’s Historical Fiction novel, House of Grace is that it certainly wasn't dull and conflict free. This is a novel starring a captivating woman and is full of passion, ambition, change, economic rises and falls, love lost and won, triumph and tragedies, and deep emotional pain and joy.
Grace begins the book as a 16 year old schoolgirl at an affluent boarding school in Brighton. She loves it because she can escape from her abusive, domineering, entitled, and wealthy parents, hang out with her best friend Katy Gilmore, and design and create clothing as she aspires to be a fashion designer. While visiting Katy’s family, she is drawn to Katy's cousin, Jack, a coal miner. After she is unable to continue her education or pursue a career in fashion, Grace considers marrying Jack to her parent's protests, threats to cut her off, and forced courtship with a more prestigious suitable man. To get out of this situation, she makes a reckless decision that draws her away from her parents and into Jack’s arms and life.
The book is divided into two parts and the tone changes dramatically to reflect that shift. The first part is a romantic drama with some lighthearted moments as Grace demonstrates how out of her element that she sometimes is in a middle to working class environment. The second part is more of a family tragedy as Grace is faced with various struggles and heartbreak.
Grace goes through great changes that alter her mindset and test her will. For example, while visiting Katy and Jack’s family, she has a hard time getting used to servants and employers talking to each other on a friendly basis and using first names. She also recognizes some of her own snobbishness after she carelessly mocks Jack and his friend’s old clothing before they are introduced. She is never intentionally cruel but realizes that her sheltered insulated upbringing did not give her much of an opportunity to interact with different people or provide her with the tools to earn a living with little money.
Grace sees something greater with Katy and Jack’s family than she had with her own. In her past, Grace had a family that withheld affection and parents who treated her and her sister like commodities to be educated and then married off. With the Gilmores, she sees a natural warmth and kindness, a family that she would like to be a part of instead of her own. This culminates in a dramatic moment when Grace is disowned and disinherited by her birth family and she is taken in by the Gilmores. She is now among people who might be inferior to her parents in class and social status, but are superior to them in love and kindness.
One of the strongest themes in this book is change and whether a person can adjust and adapt to them. Adaptability is one of Grace’s strongest gifts. She has to reinvent herself a number of times throughout the book and survive change and hardship.
In the second half of the book, Grace is at her lowest point emotionally. She suffers a devastating loss that changes her circumstances forever and is faced with a cruel choice. It is a difficult time of intense grief made worse by this heart wrenching choice. However, Grace somehow manages to find her inner strength and resources to not only survive but thrive and succeed.
House of Grace is the kind of novel that alternates between sadness and happiness. It can make a Reader cry on one page then make them applaud on the next. Like its main character, this book is truly a work of grace.
