![]() ![]() ![]() In “Ordinary Grace,” the novel’s middle-aged narrator, Frank Drum, tells of the summer when, at 13, a child being killed by a train was the catalyst for a series of tragic events that brought his family and the Brandts to their knees, baptizing them in the “awful grace of God.” ![]() The best coming-of-age novels share this moral sensibility, exploring events and their epiphanies that propel characters from childhood to adulthood, from innocence to awareness. I’ve always thought his mysteries featuring Cork O’Connor were evidence of Krueger’s distinctive moral imagination (the series is steeped in compassion for those caught in the clash of cultures and traditions). That Krueger, an acclaimed mystery writer and Twin Cities native, chose to explore this new territory (geography and genre) isn’t a surprise to me. Somewhere in the “broad valley of the Minnesota River” nestles the fictional town of New Bremen, home to the Drums and the Brandts, two families separated by class, whose lives collide in tragedy in William Kent Krueger’s “Ordinary Grace.” Set during the summer of 1961 (the year the Twins first play in Minnesota), this is a touching coming-of-age novel about family, faith and the empathy that can come from a violent loss. ![]()
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