Sufficient Grace: A Novel

Responding to voices in her head that tell her to abandon her family and entire identity, Gracie Hollaman finds herself in the home of two accomplished African-American women whose own life changes collide with the family Gracie has left behind. A first novel by the author of What Travels With Us. 35,000 first printing.

Starred Review. In her moving debut novel, Arnoult chronicles a Southern middle-aged wife and mother's descent into schizophrenia and the two families—one white, one black—transformed by her. When Gracie Hollaman goes missing, her husband, Ed, is convinced she's left him—but in fact, Gracie has left herself, at the behest of disembodied voices, for a hallucinatory world "[i]n the narrow space between what is real and what is not." Gracie wanders into the small African-American town of Rockrun and is taken into the bustling household of Mama Toot and Mattie, a mother and her widowed daughter-in-law beset by grief. Compulsive and adamant, Gracie clings to painting rituals and the voices in her head, defying her family's attempts to reclaim her after Toot tracks them down: " 'My circle's closing. I need to be the ex-wife.' " The circle Gracie refers to finds expression throughout the book—one circle must be closed before another can begin—as each character learns how to say good-bye to her old life and begin anew. In brisk scenes, Arnoult's rhythmic prose beautifully reveals the human potential for unconditional love and faith, and wholly convinces us—despite the heartache her mental illness causes—of Gracie's essential wisdom and worthiness. (June)
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In regional literature, southern and spiritual often go hand in hand, and nowhere is that piquant association more radiantly portrayed than in Arnoult's debut novel, a transcendent exploration of the unrestrained vagaries of faith and the unexpected roads to redemption. As if on a whim, Gracie Hollaman walks out of her house one day, abandoning her husband, grown daughter, and deceptively placid small-town life. Seeking salvation, Grace obeys a voice, either from above or from her past, that guides her to the home of Mama Toot, a black woman who once played a pivotal role in Grace's tempestuous childhood. Likewise, Grace's inexplicable appearance in Mama Toot's life provides the unifying force that brings peace and acceptance to a family that has seen its own share of tragedy. With astute sensitivity, Arnoult bravely endows her formidable characters with charming candor and perceptive humanity in an elegiac yet hopeful tale of elegant strength, serene love, and infectious desire. Carol Haggas
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