The Absence of Anyone Else

by Amy L Alley

Grace Pruitt, struggling artist and single mother, paints into the wee hours of the night, hoping to numb the pain she's felt since fleeing her beloved Asheville, North Carolina, home three years before. Now back in Calvary, South Carolina, the fading textile town where she was raised, she aches for the exciting life she once led in the heart of the Great Smokies and wonders what, if anything, her future holds. When the terminally-ill estranged father of her son reaches out from the past, she finds herself in the midst of an emotional turmoil that is further complicated by the ever-growing stir of feelings towards her lifelong friend Daniel, a dashingly handsome graphic artist who seems unable to express his true feelings for Grace, despite having confessed to love her years before. Just when her plate of drama seems full, Grace gets a glimpse into the life she has only dreamed of when Cristofer Stanley, successful artist and gallery owner, expresses an interest in representing her art. Fueled by a steady stream of coffee, sage advice (and just a few secrets) from her eclectic Grandmother Nan, and the passionate desire to do what is right for both herself and her son, Grace finally finds the courage to let go of the life she thought she wanted and embrace the life ~ and love ~ she was meant to have.

232 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2018

Reviews

[Susan Lenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several weeks ago and while dropping off artwork at a gallery in Greenwood, South Carolina, I happened to see this book and bought it (more as a way to support the gallery than anything else.) I didn't have any expectations despite casually being connected to Amy Alley due to a decades-old art association and a social media "friend" relationship shared with sixty mutually known artists. I doubt I would recognize Ms. Alley if today we attended the same art event. Yet, the story was engaging and the writing ideally paced. The book held my attention while riding in the passenger seat on a trip to Ohio and back. I wanted to find out "what happened next" and thoroughly enjoyed the characters and especially the touches of sarcasm and playfulness in their dialogue. My only reservation for not giving the book a five star rating comes from the unlikelihood of a "Euro-trash" artist and gallerist offering an otherwise unknown artist a five-year contract and a positive art review in an important publication while sitting in a coffee shop and then appreciating her reluctance to sign it. That's a big too far fetched for me to see happening to a single mother in a small South Carolinian town. Perhaps I'm just jaded but probably not!