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    Days of Grace: A Novel
    Days of Grace: A Novel
    Days of Grace: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Days of Grace: A Novel

    Written by Catherine Hall

    Narrated by Josephine Bailey

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    At the beginning of World War II, twelve-year-old Nora Lynch is one of thousands of London children sent away to the safety of the English countryside. Her surrogate family, Reverend and Mrs. Rivers and their daughter, Grace, are like no one she has ever met, offering shelter, affection, and the sister she never had. But Nora is too young and too naIve to understand the cracks beneath the surface of her idyllic new life at the rectory or the disappointments of the Riverses' marriage. And as her friendship with Grace grows more intense, she aches to become even closer. What happens next is a secret that she keeps for more than fifty years, a secret that she can begin to reveal only when, elderly and alone, Nora knows that she is close to the end.

    A beautiful meditation on love, friendship, and family, Days of Grace is a stunning debut that brings a tumultuous era to life. Nora tells her story in alternating chapters from the past and present, projecting her childhood nostalgia with a cinematic glow.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 27, 2010
    ISBN9781400187409
    Days of Grace: A Novel

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    Reviews for Days of Grace

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Nora is twelve years old when, because of World War II, she becomes one of the thousands of English children put on trains out of London into the safer English countryside. Her mother puts her on the evacuation train for her safety, but Nora feels it as an emotionally devastating rejection. When she reaches rural Kent and is taken in by the Rivers family, she bonds immediately with their daughter, Grace, is enchanted by Mrs. Rivers, and grateful for the new world Rev. Rivers opens up to her with education.

      Nora and Grace grow as close as sisters, but as the girls reach adolescence, she discovers that even that is not quite close enough. She wants more, something that at that time and place she can't even ask for. And gradually she learns that this idyllic family is not quite so idyllic as it looked at first. There is a grief and a barrier between Rev. and Mrs. Rivers, and a fatal weakness in the Reverend.

      The story alternates between Nora as a young girl and young woman during the war years, and Nora as an old woman, dying of cancer and taking in a young woman, Rose, a single mother disowned by her own family. Nora isn't always the most lovable character; she's hard on herself and others, unable to forgive herself for her mistakes. I found this nevertheless an absolutely engaging character study, as the young Nora struggles with feelings she can never talk about, and the old Nora struggles to do the right thing for herself and those around her, after a lifetime of mistakes.

      Recommended.

      I borrowed this book from the library.
    • 4/5
      A touching story about lost love set in the countryside during WWII.
    • 4/5
      This is a historical novel that begins when Nora Lyynch, from a poor family in London, is sent at age 12 to live with a family in the country and ends on VE day. Norah has only her mother alive. She settles in to her life in the country and becomes very friendly with the daughter Grace, the sister she never had. She realises that this is a life far better than anything she could have had in London for there she is educated, and when her mother later on comes to take her back she decides not to go. The book is another one of these novels set in two time periods. We have Noarh, now seriously ill and dying looking back on her life, her growing up, and her friendship with Grace. Norah takes in a young umarried pregnant women she has observed from her window and cares for her for as long as she can both before and after the baby is born. Then at that stage a young nurse David comes to care for Norah and forms an attachment with the young woman Rose. Norah is gradually revealing her story to Rose but she has been holding on to a guilty secret that she does not feel that she can reveal until she has truly reached the end of her life. It is then that we learn what happened to the friendshop between Norah and Grace after the two of them ran away from their home in Kent to live in London. It is a good story although I did wonder why it had to be necessary to include a gay relataionship within the story - but still worth a read.
    • 3/5
      I am giving this book three stars as I think the writing was very good. Maybe it is because I am an older reader but I found that in many parts of this book that I had to "suspend belief". I found it hard to imagine that two young girls during WW 2 would live such a solitary life..being just a gang of two so to speak. William,the slow boy in the village is the only other young person mentioned and then only about three times. Nora delivering the baby and Rose,Nora and baby Grace living such isolated lives is not to be believed. To not have visiting nurse come to the house to see the newborn or take baby Grace to clinic for her baby immunizations would be child abuse! I found the character of Nora and her story to be one of the most depressing I have read this year.The Very Thought Of You by Rosie Allen that I read earlier this summer is very,very similar to this book in plot and is almost as much of a downer.
    • 4/5
      This is an astoundingly good debut novel. It is the story of Nora Lynch's life as an evacuee to the country from London at the onset of WWII in counterpoint with her life fifty years later. The memories of her life center around her relationship with Grace, the daughter of her surrogate family in Kent during the evacuation. The challenges inherent with deception color Nora's life as she faces end-of-life issues and lead, ultimately, to grace. I hope to read more by this talented new author.
    • 3/5
       A girl evacuated from London at the beginning of the war falls in love and then some more stuff happens. It actually was more surprising than its flat premise promised. I didn't care much about the present-day chapters. They almost read as though the original story was too short and something had to be added somewhere.
    • 5/5
      A simple premise, truthfully told of WWII London evacuees, reluctant children taken from grieving, yet unfaltering mothers and fathers to a safer haven in the English countryside. Thus, we meet Nora and her devoted mother as they part, forever lost in that innocent moment, never to physically reclaim that indestructible bond of mother and child.Catherine Hall immaculately weaves the evocative narratives of Nora’s ostensibly carefree and guileless countryside life with beautiful, charming Grace and her presumably conventional parents, Vicar and Mrs. Rivers. As secrets unfold, Nora and Grace clandestinely embark upon a haunting and gripping sequence of events in London, which culminate, in a perilous journey from innocence to guilt that will tragically consume Nora until her final days.Finely embellished with past and present narratives, Nora Lynch’s unexpected evolvement from lonely window peeper within her limited narrow world to an intrepid leap in her reluctant reaching out to another young woman in need, ultimately compels Nora not only to face, but to acknowledge and forgive her youthful transgressions and to find comforting release.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written. I loved this book from page 1. It was one of those rare books that are simply a joy to read.Nora appears in two time frames - as an old lady dying of cancer and as a thirteen year old girl evacuated from London during the war. The young Nora is adopted by a vicarage family in Kent; I thought the descriptions of her settling into her new environment were wonderful. She adores Grace, her new playmate and is treated well by the family.As time runs out for the older Nora, she begins to retell the story to a young mother whose baby she helps deliver. Secrets that have been buried for years begin to emerge as she relives the experiences of that time.Excellently paced, I couldn't put this book down. It was a pure pleasure to read.I hope Catherine Hall is hard at work writing her next novel as I shall be buying it in hardback!Your Tags: wwii