There But for Grace

Fifty-three-year-old Grace Winthrop Hobbes is newly divorced with two college-age kids, an eccentric octogenarian mother, a stalled novel-in-progress, and a sex drive that is coming out of hibernation with a vengeance. Refusing to go gently into the dark night of abstinence and retreat, and tired of sexual double standards, Grace makes a vow to seize life’s bull by the horns. Her adventures begin with Fuzz, who likes to take notes after sex; with Dylan, a soulful computer genius in search of an ＂era＂; Otis, a one-armed jogger raising a seven-year-old daughter with OCD; and a banker in Vermont who offers a new twist. However, Grace’s year of re-liberation doesnt go quite as planned. As her empty house slowly fills with quirky, unexpected ＂ guests,＂ she gains new insights into friendship, intimacy, happiness, and the notion of home. There but for Grace is a funny, earnest look at the modern ＂ family,＂ nuclear and extended -- sometimes way overextended.

Anne Whitney Pierce is a lifelong Cantabrigian and the award-winning author of Galaxy Girls: Wonder Women, Rain Line, Down to the River, and There but for Grace. ＂ Demonstrating a keen ear for unpretentious voices, Pierce ... spins richly populated yarns of divorce, abandonment, birth, and love.＂ -- New York Times Book Review. The mother of three grown daughters, she taught writing to graduate students at Emerson College and to students in the Cambridge Public Schools.