Hewitt Pearce is a forty-three-year-old blacksmith who lives alone in his family home, producing custom ironwork and safeguarding a small collection of art his late father left behind. When Jessica, a troubled young vagabond, washes up in his backwoods one morning, Hewitt's previously hermetic existence is suddenly challenged. Soon after, he learns that Emily, the love of his life whom he'd lost twenty years before, has been tragically widowed. As he gradually uncovers the secrets of Jessica's past, and tries to win Emily's trust again, Hewitt must confront his own dark history and rediscover how much he's craved human connection. As he's forced to face the heartbreaking losses that nearly destroyed both his father and himself, Hewitt realizes the faith that art can deliver, and for the first time in years has redemption within reach.Set in the art scene of postwar New York, a commune in the early seventies, and contemporary small-town New England, A Peculiar Grace is, writes Library Journal, "a long walk through a dark psychological forest Ýthat¨ may appeal to fans of Howard Norman or Wallace Stegner. Read Less