Cold Grace

by Meredith Miller

A story of survival and humanity set in early 1900s New England. Miller explores themes of colonialism, disability, eugenics and rural life on the fringes of society. 'A woman's body is a machine specially designed for producing consequences.' Winter closes in on a valley in northern New England where a violent history is about to repeat itself. The Allen family farm is nearly empty. Only Eddie, the youngest son, remains, living with his family's ghosts near the woods he loves. In those woods he meets Jeanne Delaney, a girl he's known all his life, now turning into a woman. This is not the first time that Eddie's people have come into contact with Jeanne's, though. Their families are already tied together by a violent past. For readers of Where the Crawdads Sing, Cold Grace is a dark historical novel defined by its frozen landscape. Both revenge tragedy and coming of age story, it tells of an isolated community haunted by the ghost of its own violence.

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 27, 2025

About the author

I grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, in New York. I've lived all over America but these days I live and teach in Wales. I'm a published academic now writing fiction (and still a lot of critical stuff). I like to write novels featuring hard-boiled women. I also love language, sometimes to distraction.

I made this profile as an author, but I really enjoy being a reader here. I am happy to answer questions about my books, but also just to chat about whatever people are reading. I love nineteenth-century novels, geeky non-fiction and contemporary genre stuff, when it's well written.

Reviews

[Sonja Charters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely a book that drew me in the instant I spotted the front cover.

It doesn't give too much away, but I just loved the simplicity of it and that it gave me creepy vibes.

 

I haven't read many books set in this era before and I feel that had I been a reader of blurbs beforehand, I may not have picked it up at all - but this makes me all the more happy that I had the pleasure (and pain) of reading it now.

 

This made for quite a tough read emotionally and there were some dark and sensitive elements running throughout.

Some of these aspects will (should!) make us feel angry with the state of the world - but I think this is why it's so important to have them explored within literature in this way.

 

This was a beautifully written book and I was instantly transported to the 1900's New England rural landscape.

The descriptive writing gave such a clear and vivid image and with some well presented characters, this had me gripped throughout.

 

 

 

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Cold Grace, by Meredith Miller, senior Jeanne Delaney shares her recollections of life in New England in winter 1913, when she turned 16.

Jeanne is of Gypsy/Boater descent, and as a child, she spent the warm months living on the water with her grandfather and her brother T-Roy (her mother having died in childbirth), and winters on land with Jerusha – the local midwife, and a close friend of her mother – and Jerusha’s intellectually disabled daughter, Etta Grace.

By 1913, though, Etta Grace is conspicuous by her absence, and Jeanne is coming into her power and becoming curious about matters her community have protected her from. She falls in love for the first time, with Eddie Allen – the youngest son of a white colonial farming family.

While Eddie comes across as a decent person, his currently-absent brothers Hank and Micky are known for their violent ways and abuse of girls they consider “inferior” – including Etta Grace. For this reason, Jerusha discourages strong-willed Jeanne’s liaison with the younger Allen, and a showdown beckons when the elder siblings return and confront Eddie about his relationship with Jeanne.

Cold Grace is a book that cuts deep. Everything about it is so intensely alive – from Jeanne’s virtually fearless, grab-life-with-both-hands personality, to the author’s rich, multi-sensory descriptions of subsistence in the harsh climate of a New England winter in the early twentieth century, to the details of Hank and Micky’s shocking behaviour, and how this was taught to them by their late father, Everett, and condoned by their twisted mother, Julia.

Even though it took me a little time to straighten out the family trees/links between characters in my head, I nonetheless became highly engrossed not only in Jeanne’s story, but the chapters that follow Jerusha and T-Roy, which provide important additional information about Jeanne’s backstory, as well as their own experiences – with the Allen family or otherwise – before and during 1913.

There are a few themes that really stood out to me. One, which I can’t say too much about without spoilers, is the inhumane treatment of GTRSB, Native American, and disabled people during this period. The Allens are far from the only ones who look down on/actively discriminate against Jeanne’s community.

Another is the way siblings who grew up in the same household can turn out completely different, due to factors such as birth order, unequal treatment from parents, and particular circumstances at certain ages.

Eddie is a “runt” and “afterthought”, and right from his birth, Julia favours her more robust, less gentle older sons. As Everett died when Eddie was a toddler, Eddie didn’t receive the same inculcation in violence as Hank and Micky, and his siblings’ attempt to teach him in Everett’s stead didn’t take, perhaps because Eddie was simply more peaceful by nature, or a bonded pair of older siblings make less effective teachers than a fearsome patriarch.

Either way, the Allens’ story shows that it’s not inevitable that an abused child will become an abuser themselves, and while Everett’s methods may explain why Hank and Micky are the way they are, they don’t excuse it.

A related theme is toxic masculinity, and how this can be enforced by both men and women. This is particularly exemplified in Julia’s case: she set her sights on Everett after seeing him beat a man with a broken piece of railing, and consistently favours whichever son is the most willing to resort to violence to defend the family and provide for her in her old age.

Julia’s internalised misogyny is such that not only did she let her elder sons abuse young women on her watch, but she deplores and victim-blames women who provoke their husbands by ‘whining’ – she avoided her late husband’s wrath by keeping quiet and still, and just saw this as part of her work as a homemaker.

Something else that caught my attention was the fact that Jeanne is telling her story for an oral history project. Having engaged with oral history myself, it’s believeable that, given the opportunity and encouragement to talk at length at a life stage when she’s reviewing her memories, she divulges the things she does to a stranger. I also thought she made a very good point that her recording would likely end up being lost to history once the project’s funding ran out.

Cold Grace is rich, evocative, and striking.

[Kelly Hollingworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book immediately transported me to a rural valley in 1900’s New England and kept me captivated to the last page. Eddie Allen, 22, is living alone on the family farm. He meets nearly 16 year old Jeanne Delaney in the woods. He has always known her but she is now on the cusp of womanhood. Jeanne lives with her brother and Grampy but spends most of her time with Jerusha Prichard, the mother of her childhood friend Etta Grace. With wonderful descriptions of the landscape, the smokehouses and picking apples it all appears idyllic. But there is darkness, death and deception in the minds, hearts and soil of the extended families. With extremely sensitive themes running through the book I cried in sadness at the violation, violence and vulgarity, but was moved in a positive way by the strength of the female characters finding a way forward in unimaginably difficult times. This is such an important book and has been written absolutely wonderfully.

[andshe.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an absolutely captivating story about family and love. Miller certainly had a way that drew me in and entwined me with these characters.

It was impossible not to love the characters. The depth to each of them was outstanding. They were relatable, and I felt so much hope for all of them. However, as full of hope that I was, numerous aspects boiled me to the core, and I felt angry at the prejudice some of the characters were up against.

Miller's writing is stunning, and I really look forward to seeing what comes next for this author. I can only imagine great things.

Thank you to Randomthingstours for the tour opportunity & to Honno & the Author for a copy of the book.

[Nimalee Ravi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold Grace is a book that will stay with me for a long time. This book had me in tears, anger, and laughter. Stunningly written and captivates the feelings and essence of life in the 1900s.

I really enjoyed the characters, especially Eddie Allen and Jerusha. I really loved how Miller explores the theme of colonialism and disability in the 1900s.

The writing style is definitely captivating, vivid, and descriptive. I can picture the scenes.

This is definitely a must-read book, and I highly recommend it. However, please check the trigger warnings.

[Treena Orchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

With an environment as mysterious and layered as each character, getting pulled into the dark world Meredith Miller creates in Cold Grace is easy. Written in the parlance of the time, place, and class of people that populate the pages of Cold Grace, readers are given a rare glimpse into this compelling novel that doubles as an ethnography of the rural American northeast in the early 20th century. Jeanne is a protagonist I'll not soon forget; what enduring will she had to not just repeat the pathos of what was passed down to women of mixed cultural backgrounds and incomplete families. Women who sometimes have to kill men to save themselves and the people they love or try to love. I fell, thankfully, into the rhythm of the story and beautiful turns of phrase like "a holy shade of blue" (Pg. 71)- how glorious. I highly recommend this book and will now begin reading everything else Meredith Miller has written.