The Stages of Grace - a Novel

They say that all is fair in love and war.

Denial.

After more than fifteen years of marriage, cartoonist Gracie Carpenter discovers her husband is a serial cheater. Not only that, but she is struggling to resuscitate her career, to care for her widowed father who has Alzheimer’s, to find a way to re-connect with her teenage son, and to help her best friend through her latest crisis. And just when things reach a breaking point, she meets the ghost of the daughter she never had.

Negotiation.

Gracie wants nothing more than for her life to return to the way it was. Even with everything that is going on, she thinks her daughter’s sudden appearance is a sign that she and her husband should try again.

Depression.

As her life falls apart, Gracie discovers that the root of so much pain may lie in a terrible mistake she made as a young girl-a mistake that left a boy dead.

Anger.

To save herself, her son, and her life, Gracie must confront her husband. And her past.

Acceptance.

Can Gracie find the strength to overcome her past? Can she start over and forge a new life-one built on strength and love and forgiveness? Can she, in fact, find grace?