Finding Grace
By Loretta Rothschild
Published 2025
Read Nov 2025
This is a debut novel for Rothschild. You won’t learn much about the plot from this essay as this reader believes that reading it without knowing anything about it is advantageous to the reader.
The protagonist of this becomes a widower when his wife and daughter are killed in a bombing. Most of the book takes place starting a few years after the bombing and follows the widower and his young son. There are occasional flashbacks which are printed in italics to aid the reader in know it’s a flashback.
Rothschild uses an interesting device: The protagonist’s wife narrates much of the novel from her position in heaven. She is able to see what’s happening and we hear much of the action from her “viewpoint”. We also are privy to the husband’s thoughts directly from him. We see the other characters only through their actions as communicated by the wife or the widower.
The majority of the book’s tension is built on a secret the husband is keeping from almost everyone regarding a woman he has met. One good friend knows the secret and urges the widower to reveal it, but he doesn’t and weaves an increasingly complex web of “facts” created to keep his secret safe.
There is a fairly large cast of characters, one group surrounding the widower and one group surrounding the new girlfriend and, of course, they begin to intersect. There are many topics that aren’t discussed within the groups and certainly not between the groups.
Parenthood, managing one’s own grief, supporting a friend through their grief, and communication are big themes of this book.
There is a fair amount of description of sex between the widower and his new girlfriend which this reader didn’t find necessary. Perhaps the editor/publisher thought this would be a draw for some readers, but this reader found it somewhat distracting and certainly led this reader to wonder about whether the new couple’s relationship was built on anything besides sex.
The setting is London, although the book feels pretty American. This reader thought that perhaps the author now lives in the US, but she splits her time between the UK and Italy. That likely explains an Italian connection. There are a few “British’ words and few obvious “British” cultural elements, but not many which again may be an editor/publisher’s suggestion to enable sales. There are a large number of references to modern day singers as well as “classical” artists. This reader did not connect with most of the singer references which may suggest the author is directing the book to an audience younger than this reader. These references may impact the longevity of the book.
Overall, a pretty fast read. It will be interesting to see how this author’s career develops.
MarshaReads.com 