Finding Grace

by Loretta Rothschild ★★★☆☆

I went into Finding Grace blind—I'd heard positive buzz about the book, but I had zero idea what it was about. I start with that acknowledgment because it's a challenging book to review without spoiling any of the story. I'll be as vague as the default book description to keep it fresh for anyone else reading this review prior to potentially picking up this debut novel from Loretta Rothschild.

The novel focuses on a small family: mother Honor, father Tom, and six-year-old daughter Chloe. It opens with the London-based family celebrating Christmas in Paris, as has been their tradition for the past several years. The holiday spirit isn't necessarily infusing Honor and Tom, however. For the past few years, they have been trying several scenarios in order to have another child, and the stress of that process has driven a wedge between the two. They've gotten to a place where the only option is an egg donor combined with a surrogate, and as they arrive at their hotel in Paris they're anxiously waiting to hear if their surrogate is successfully pregnant with their child.

I say "they", but it's really just Honor. This is her thing. "Lying there with Chloe barely ten minutes old, I was already fretting about the fact that she didn't have a sibling." Tom was supportive of the process, but after six years, he's on his last thread, ready to enjoy the daughter he has rather than pine for the child he doesn't. "I'd dragged Tom along with my dream, never wondering what toll these failed pregnancies had on him," Honor narrates. "I spoke over his thoughts. I just went ahead, business as usual, as if he played no role, or had any voting rights." The tension between the parents reaches a boiling point, and Honor takes Chloe down to have breakfast.

And that's when everything changes, and sets up a surprisingly inventive premise for a book.

Unfortunately, the execution of that premise fell short. There were so many ways that Finding Grace could have been great, but it avoided many of them and slogged through others. There is love, and heartbreak, and plenty of tension built around concealed information, but it never fully came together for me. Honor and Tom's friend group back in London make for an interesting supporting cast, but one whose interactions with them feel unnatural or exaggerated for much of the novel. The collection of characters as a whole were difficult to like, and that made a connection to the novel more difficult.

Without that connection, a story that could be gripping turned out to feel drawn out and even unintentionally comical at times. It wasn't all bad...it just wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. By the time I got to the inevitable resolution of the aforementioned tension, I was already emotionally uninvested in the predictable outcome, and this one puttered to its final conclusion.

Despite not loving Finding Grace, I think there's still solid promise and potential here for Rothschild as an author. As noted, the premise was innovative and promising, and the ability to come up with that scenario gives me hope that there are more great ideas living inside her. The writing was solid, but plot choices and execution were lacking (for me), so I'll hold out hope that the follow-up (almost a certainty given the buzz around this book) will more closely click with me. As far as Finding Grace, though, you shouldn't lose sleep if you don't end up reading it; this is one that you can skip.