Finding Grace

I really enjoyed reading ‘Finding Grace’, which is marketed under the genre of Children’s Fiction. It is a cracking story about an imaginative loner, Hope, who has no friends lives with her mother who suffers from deep, dark depressions. To fill her time, Hope really loves to read. The stories she chooses fire her imagination and she often reads her favourite books again and again. She also secretly writes letters to her imaginary friend ‘Grace’. Her mother tells her she is too old (at ten years of age) to have imaginary friends, but Hope unburdens herself to Grace and she keeps every single letter she has ever written to her hidden away.

On her eleventh birthday she discovers a shocking secret. Grace is real and what’s more Grace is her twin sister. She was given up for adoption after she suffered a very serious illness. Her adoptive parents live miles away from Hope and her mother. More than anything, Hope wants to meet her sister Grace and she is thrilled when she and her mother set off to the place where they believe she may live. But things have a way of turning out differently from what you have hoped for and Grace ends up in mortal danger when the sisters are at last reunited.

Set in Canada in the 50’s this is the heartwarming story of two sisters who are reunited after Hope and her mother track Grace down. Grace and Hope are completely different but they complement each other. Hope is a serious loner with a vivid imagination but Grace is outgoing, enthusiastic and daring. I loved their fledgling friendship and the way that they combined their personalities to help one another, and I particularly loved the ending of the story.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers Second Story Press for sending me a copy of ‘Finding Grace’ in return for an honest review. I’m sure this novel would be a real hit with children who are independent readers and who like family stories where hidden secrets are revealed with very surprising results.