Finding Grace

by Alyssa Brugman

Book Overview

RACHEL HAS JUST graduated from high school and thinks she knows everything. Well, maybe not quite everything. Then she meets the mysterious Mr. Preston, who offers her a live-in job looking after... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385731167
• ISBN13: 9780385731164
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

A Funny, Touching And Beautifully Written Coming Of Age Story!

My good mate John down at Matilda's Bookstore in Mount Waverley reccommended this book to me which was a true delight to read. John has a very good selection of books aimed at the teenage market so I suggest you check them out next time you are in the area. This book is about a quirky first year University student named Rachel who is hired to look after a woman named Grace who has an aquired brain injury. Rachel is a little spooked by Grace at first but then her curiousity comes into play and through a series of found letters she realizes that Grace was once a fiercly independant woman with a life and a career . This is a beautifully written Coming Of Age story which I loved and I was also pleasantly surprised to read that Stephen King's wife Tabitha designed the book's cover. Thanks a lot John for yet another great book!

A great book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's one of those books I wished would go on and on, as I loved Rachel's character and wanted to know what was going to happen the next day and the next.... I highly recommend this smart, funny and touching read.

State of "Grace"

In this thoughtful novel, a high school graduate becomes the caretaker for a woman who became brain damaged as an adult for reasons unknown . . . at first. As Rachel learns more about her charge Grace, she also learns more about herself. Finding Grace is an aptly titled coming-of-age story that I recommend to teens and adults alike. It was surprisingly poignant. Rachel is appropriately awkward at first, not certain how to act around Grace. She is also on that brink between being a kid and being an adult, having graduated from high school but not completely knowing what she wants to do next. Though I enjoyed Alyssa Brugman's debut, Walking Naked, I feel that Finding Grace was an even better story. My heart went out to each of the characters in turn, and the writing kept me wanting to find out more about all of them. I'm sure to read Brugman's future works as well.

Fantastic older coming of age novel

Set in Australia, this is the story of Rachel, a disarmingly honest and quirky 18-year-old girl who's just beginning college and her life on her own. She accepts a job as a live-in caregiver for a brain-damaged woman, and soon finds herself trying to balance her insatiable curiosity about the woman's life with her newfound responsibilities and freedoms. The charming story and a narrator I could relate to rendered me incapable of ever setting the book down.

Finding Grace, Finding Self

Rachel is 18 and knows everything...almost. She's about to discover just how much she has to learn. Through an excellent use of language, a setting that's slightly "exotic" but not too far of a cry from America, and a voice that's all her own, Brugman takes Rachel on a journey not only through the self-discovery that comes from entering college, but also into the life of an unexpected friend. Touching and hilarious, Brugman gets you into Rachel's head, and once you're there you won't want to get out! Highly recommended for anyone and everyone over the age of thirteen for it's excellent views on the mysteries of life. Rachel not only finds "Grace," she finds herself.