The Matter of Grace

by Jessica Barksdale Inclán

Booklist praised Her Daughter's Eyes as "a modern-day depiction of familial disintegration with offbeat twists and luminous sparks of hope." Now, Jessica Barksdale Incl&aacuten reveals the closely intertwined lives of four women-their struggles to be good wives, mothers, friends-and the troubled secrets they hide.

Every summer, Felice, Helen, Stella, and Grace meet at Oakland View Swim and Tennis Club, watching their children learn to swim, slowly becoming friends. After seven years, there is no reason to think things will ever change-until the summer Grace's illness returns. On the brink of crisis, as the women try to help Grace confront a trauma that begins to seem quite different from what she claims, they are forced to examine their own lives...and face a painful truth. That they don't really know Grace-or themselves-at all...

Genres: Fiction, Friendship, Contemporary

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Jessica Barksdale Inclán's sixteenth novel, What the Moon Did, and her first short story collection, Trick of the Porch Light, were published in 2023. Her novels include Her Daughter’s Eyes, The Play's the Thing, and The Burning Hour.

A Pushcart Prize and Best-of-the-Net nominee, her short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming in the The Sun, Salt Hill Journal, Tahoma Review, and So to Speak. Her work has been recognized and honored by The Sewanee Review, The Wigleaf, The North American Review, and The Ocotillo Review

She taught composition, literature, and creative writing at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California and continues to teach novel writing online for UCLA Extension and in the online MFA program for Southern New Hampshire University.

She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

For more information, go to: http://www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com

Reviews

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really care for this book too much. It is one of those novels that takes forever to get through, and its sad but there are no surprises that create any kind of emotion. The reader already knows what is coming due to previous chapters. It is not the worst, but definitely not the best novel I have read.

[Sheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story of women friends and one of them has cancer returning. They examine their own lives and stories in the midst of this crisis as they help Grace through this time of her life, again.
Not particularly good, I struggled through it while reading it in the car in bits and pieces. It just didnt move me at all.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book and I was interested the further along I read, but It is certainly not among my favorite books.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird.. interesting book..

[Tricia Cassavaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3

[Hege Herfindahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could have been interesting. Anorexia . Friendships. But somehow it didn’t work and there was no real solution to the mystery of Grace.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow read and when it starts getting better it left you with more unanswered questions.
Not my favorite book.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four women. All friends. Their lives. Their relationships.

While their children are taking swimming lessons at the local club, Felice, Helen, Stella, and Grace share their lives with one another. For two, it’s their only respite from their lives.

Felice’s husband James is always quiet with an anger simmering just below the surface. Even when he’s physically there, he’s never really there for either Felice or their young sons.

Helen seems always to be upset with Darryl, her husband. It’s as though she’s angry at him for something she isn’t quite able to put her finger on. There’s an underlying wistfulness to her.

Stella has a wonderful marriage to Aaron. Together they have a nine-year old son.

Grace, divorced from her husband, has been in a relationship with Kathleen for several years. Grace’s cancer has now returned. I don’t understand her relationship with Kathleen as she seems to be leaving her out of her life over the entire cancer ordeal yet Grace includes her other friends in it.

While I really appreciated the friendships and that they were there for each other, it was as though something major was missing from the story. As though it was left unfinished.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

PERSONALLY AUTOGRAPHED COPY--PERMANENT COLLECTION

"Every summer, Felice, Helen, Stella, and Grace meet at Oakland View Swim and Tennis Club. As their children lear to swim, the four friends sit by the edge of the pool talking, laughing, sharing in each other's lives. After seven years, it seems nothing will ever change among them. Until this summer...

Grace has cancer. It wasn't supposed to return, but it has. And now, at the brink of crisis, as the women help Grace through her illness, they are forced to examine their own lives and wonder...why Felice no longer has anything in common with her husband, who was once her best friend - why Helen, who is so afraid of being ordinary, starts an affair with a man half her age...why Stella, who has everything, is willing to take the biggest risk of all. And why Grace, who says she is ill, is still working out at the gym and sitting by the pool as if nothing is the matter.

But something is the matter. And as the friends face adversity, they face the truth. That they don't really know Grace - or themselves - at all."

[Melissa Lee-Tammeus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty intriguing, yet I found myself incredibly confused much of the time. It is the story of a group of moms who come together at the local pool where their children go to swim meets. All of them have issues - one is having an affair, another struggles with getting pregnant, another is struggling with a divorce. Grace has cancer. Or does she? The book jumps around a lot from character to character, which is not a big deal. However, when you join up with that one character again, numerous things have already happened and you are busy trying to figure it out based on very sketchy dialogue. Plus the whole cancer Grace thing is frustrating as hell, as you never really get an answer on what the heck is happening. But, it is an important read in the fact that mental illness comes in all forms and that you may never really get the full story or all the questions answered. The book ends up coming full circle and making a lot of sense after all.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fell asleep, literally, every time I tried to read this book at home. It didn't pick up until about 3/4 of the way through it. Even then, it wasn't riveting. It's about the people in it, perhaps about our weaknesses. It's about 4 women friends and their lives in a certain time frame. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, although there was nothing wrong with the writing. The story just didn't grab me.

[Sandy]

I have always enjoyed books by Jessica Barksdale Inclan. This book was not as good as the others that I have read, though. This story jumped around alot making it hard to follow at times. The storyline was good and the characters likable and easy to become acquainted with, but I felt that there was just something missing as the story went on and especially at the end. This one didn't hold my interest quite as much as the others have.

[Shari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't really care for this book. Story was okay. Kinda reminded me of a Maeve Benchy book with all the different characters. I kept referring to the back of the book to keep them straight at first. The storyline was okay. Didn't really go in to much detail of any of the characters....just told you enough that you could imagine the rest. Which leaves it up to the reader.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but there just wasn't alot to it. I would have loved to know more about the characters that she wrote about. The story line did get confusing at times and I would have re-read parts to get what she was saying. Good story.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this author very much, but this was not one of my favorites by her. Good story, but it dragged on in some parts. It took me a little longer to read then some of her other books.

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is about 4 adult girl friends. They've shared in each other's lives for years, and now one of them has cancer, each one has their own problems to deal with....

[Camille]

Enjoyed it! It could have been better if there was more of the various story lines further followed, but I still liked it.

[Joan Horkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow sometimes but great plot . Great characterization.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think we bought this book, for the summer looking cover (beach).. Turned out to be nothing about the beach but a good story about life....