"Hello, grace.": a memoir

by Susan D. Anderson

The word “grace” evokes a sense of our connection to something spiritual, serene, and hugely loving. Susan Anderson draws from her own stories of struggle and triumph to illustrate universal characteristics of a grace-filled life.
Part of our common humanity is that everyone is familiar with moments of grace, such as receiving a clear and important message when needed, or receiving a timely gift of undeserved help, or being miraculously found or rescued from trouble, or wanting to hold onto a profound sense of awe and beauty forever. People of all ages and walks of life can relate powerful experiences of feeling cared for by a mysterious, other-worldly spiritual force. “Hello, grace.” is an invitation to share our stories so that we may all recognize the many facets of grace and learn how to bring grace more fully into our daily lives.
Anderson invites readers into the process of discovering what grace is and how grace operates by using playful names for grace-filled Amazing Aunties of Assistance, Sisters of Spiritual Sanity, Brother Big Love, Merciful Messengers. Each chapter of “Hello, grace.” identifies a particular characteristic of grace that is available to everyone.
For readers who are engaged in the quest for a life of meaning and purpose, who feel that their journey is connected to something spiritual and sacred, and who are exploring the landscape of the soul and the longings of the heart, “Hello, grace.” provides a road map of the many forms of grace that accompany us on life’s journey.

149 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2022

About the author

I live in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, a place that makes it easy to integrate daily life with the sacred. The Connecticut River wends its way through the valley and right outside my windows. Surrounding hills are full of hiking wonders. Local farms are primarily organic and fill their roadside stands with healthy produce. My soul is thriving here.

Most of the time I feel a close proximity to the divine. It’s a good place to be when writing memoirs that describe my journey from childhood, through middle age and beyond. They are my personal history and they reflect our shared story as human beings.

The first memoir, Time After Time (Author House, 2012), is the story of living through an abusive childhood. It is especially pertinent reading for students of family dynamics and psychological and emotional abuse, particularly social workers and therapists who need case studies of this elusive form of abuse.

The second memoir, Flying Point (Amazon, 2016), is the story of living alone for two years on an isolated island in Maine. It is for everyone who is navigating a significant mid-life disturbance, especially those who yearn for a prolonged solitude to sort themselves out.

The third memoir, “Hello, grace.” (Amazon, 2022), weaves the threads and themes of my journey into a picture of what has been a life navigated as much by grace as by my own actions and decisions. I wrote this book especially for today’s younger people who are seeking a sense of purpose and meaning to their lives, people who feel drawn to the spiritual side of life and want to know how to connect to their deeper selves.

Each person has a unique theme in life. Artists call it a motif. It’s a concept that rivets our interest and permeates how we create and what we create at work and at home. Each of us also has a unique soul. It’s an inexhaustible inner world where we seek to connect our daily life to the immensity of creation.

Equality has been my motif from the beginning. My blog is called Living As Equals because that’s what I notice all around me and in the news. There you will find well over 100 essays on the small and large instances of unwarranted prejudice in our society, especially the ways we White people attack the humanity of people from other cultures, lifestyles, backgrounds, religions, dress, and languages. Even hairstyles, given names, and gender choices have been subject to blatant oppression.

The essays on Living As Equals name those prejudices and biases, talk about ways we can become more aware of our own discrimination, and offer ideas for becoming less White-centric and more anti-racist.

Long ago (1993), when Charlie Rose asked Toni Morrison about what racism did to her, she whipped her head around to Charlie and asked, “What is it doing to you, Charlie?” She described growing up feeling superior to White people because our incessant prejudice revealed that we are suffering from some kind of collective sickness. Race hatred acts like a neurosis in each and every one of us. It originates in our institutionalized racism and, like any illness, can progress to malignancy, which we have seen repeatedly and blatantly in the political-social sphere since 2017.

I write to offer an antidote to the insanity of our culture in these times: the ignorance, the inability to see one another's humanity, the depravity of gun violence, the immorality of elected officials, the failure to respect other people and their lives and their choices, however different they are from our own.

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan D. Anderson is the careful and observant narrator of her life in this, her third, memoir. She employs brief descriptive vignettes to draw the reader through her punishing childhood and challenging adulthood. Her adept analytical skills heighten her self-awareness while she deftly pulls the reader toward an unwavering goal. Anderson arrives at a heartfelt moment of revelatory epiphany by embracing the truth that, with true forgiveness, comes the gift of grace. Anderson’s account of her journey is further enriched by her deep relationship with the land and the beauty of the Connecticut River Valley she calls home. This memoir might be of particular interest to others who are curious about how one dedicated writer puts to rest her historical demons in order to embrace the spiritually uplifting light of grace.

[Brandy Sieber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book for anyone who is looking for a sense of purpose and a deeper meaning beyond the boundaries of our daily lives. In each chapter the author offers examples of other forces in the universe that help us live in harmony with our souls. It is a joyful book to read, so much so that I've gone back to reread many of the chapters.

[Debbie Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of one woman's perseverance through a difficult family life, and the ways that "grace" have always been with her. A book you definitely want to finish to see how the story ends. I highly recommend "Hello, grace" as one of the better memiors I have read.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't speak to me, but I applaud the author's courage in bearing her soul and I admire the fortitude she had in growing up in such painful and difficult circumstances. It thought it was well written and I reccomend it to those who might relate more to this message.
Thanks to Goodreads and the author for the free copy and the opportunity to expand my reading horizons by exploring a genre outside of my usual (and ecclectic) reading habits.

[Susan Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was written by my friend Carlton Brose, who is well into his nineties and who took a great deal of time to compose these thoughts. I couldn't bear to ask him to figure out how to place his comments on Goodreads and Amazon, so I am placing them here for him.

7.2.23: "I believe Susan Anderson’s memoir contains deep truths. It traces her life of human and spiritual challenges from a variety of barriers starting with her mother’s abuse. To many readers her experiences will ring painfully authentic. From a lifetime of difficulties, she held her abiding conviction that grace will greet her at the right moment. For many this will be inspiring. Readers looking for books to put their lives in perspective will see in Hello grace how their own life-changing decisions were/are connected to their abiding faith.”