The Saving Graces
Meet the Saving Graces, four of the best friends a woman can ever have.
For ten years, Emma, Rudy, Lee and Isabel have shared a deep affection that has helped them deal with the ebb and flow of expactations and disappointments common to us all. Calling themselves the Saving Graces, the quartet is united by understanding, honestly, and acceptance—a connection that has grown stronger as the years go by...
Though these sisters of the heart and soul have seen it all, talked through it all, Emma, Rudy, Lee and Isabel will not be prepared for a crisis of astouding proporations that will put their love and courage to the ultimate test.
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A Selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club
“… bountiful … compelling … it's not mere 'beach reading.' [The Saving Graces] irritate one another, embrace one another, tackle their differences, suffer in silence, support and express their love for each other--as in real life. The voices and sentiments of each of them are distinct and well-drawn, and the narrative is, at times, breathtaking … unique, uncliched, unsentimental and ultimately satisfying.” ~Washington Post Book World
“Gaffney has given us four engaging women … an easy, intimate read, tender, funny...may inspire a tear or two. Maybe even a sigh of pleasured contentment.” ~New York Daily News
“The story is sweet...the jokes funny and current and the neuroses real … Readers will feel they've known this foursome forever. A bighearted … valentine to the beauty of old-fashioned female friendship. It's the kind of novel to be passed along with a hug and a cup of tea from mother to daughter, or from old friend to old friend.” ~Boston Herald
“The charm of this novel lies in its believable characters--sweet and smart-ass, funny and real … Anyone who's ever raised a glass to toast her women friends will love this book--its raw emotion, its rueful humor, its life lessons.” ~New Orleans Times-Picayune
“(A) poignant story about friendship. The Saving Graces is a character-driven novel and Gaffney has a keen sense of direction.” ~Library Journal
“This ode to the friendships between women could easily become the northern version of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.” ~Booklist
“Sweetly affirmative … strong characters … always readable … a great book for the beach.” ~Kirkus
“RICH, LOVELY... An intimate portrayal of friendships through the eyes of four unforgettable women. I hated to put it down!” ~Michael Lee West, author of Crazy Ladies
“Sometimes the antagonist in a breakout novel is nothing more than life itself. For an example, read Patricia Gaffney's powerful story...about four women friends who form a support group, The Saving Graces. Over the course of several years the friends grapple with infertility, divorce, married lovers, thwarted creativity, terminal cancer, and other challenges. Is there a villain, here? Various characters stand in, but ultimately in The Saving Graces, Gaffney makes the antagonist nothing more than the relentless, small, unavoidable domestic tragedies that happen to us all.” ~Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel