Recommended by Mo Mahle of West Duluth
Title: "Fall to Grace"
Author: Kerry Casey
Publisher: Five Friends Books
Genre: Fiction
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Synopsis: Two teenage boys suffer the loss of their fathers on the same day. This fated connection and their love of the game of hockey begins their eight-year odyssey. The small northern Minnesota town (Baudette) serves a smorgasbord of interesting characters. Some are a bit quirky, including a blind monsignor, a troubled priest from Boston, a lonely sheriff and an Ojibwe widow. As the story unfolds, the boys become teammates in college. Their friendship is assaulted by loss and that changes things. Characters cope with loss in different ways, all of them trying to make sense of the tragedy and the glimmer of grace that forces them to continue in spite of it.
Review: Be forewarned, this is not a novel to be read at your leisure. It demands your full attention. It's a jewel of a first novel. I connected on many levels: friendship, love, loss, coping, struggles, survival and sense of place where the quirky characters are the product of their environment. Casey is a master storyteller and the book was my favorite read of 2008! I am anxiously awaiting the sequel.
