Book Review: Grace & Favor

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Grace & Favor     Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
Caroline Upcher
Class/Genre:   Fiction
Kensington, Jul 2001, $14.00, 368 pp.

Grace and Favor are sisters, although they never met though each one is aware that they have a sibling. Grace and Favor believe that they know what happened to split the family years ago, but each one has a different spin on the tragic events.

Grace is a writer living on Long Island. She feels her father rejected her by giving her away. To this day she never knew why. Perhaps that is why her relationships with men always fail.

Favor lives near London. She is married to a locksmith and has two teenage children who know everything. Her father raised her.

Grace comes to England on a book tour. She and Favor come to the family farm, but just miss meeting one another. That near miss serves as the final impetus for Favor to seek out her sister. Grace learns a woman is stalking her. Favor wants to introduce herself, but cannot take the final step. She is afraid that Grace will reject her. Surprisingly, Grace wants to meet Favor, but fears the reception from her younger sister.

GRACE & FAVOR is an exciting relationship drama that alternates first person chapters between the two siblings. This allows the reader to observe the thoughts and feelings of each sister as they take one baby step at a time closer to meeting each other. Caroline Upcher has written a powerful character study that hooks readers because the plot concentrates on the emotions of the sisters and the impact on other family members while limiting the melodrama of the events that separated them over three decades ago.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner