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“Family-fracturing secrets are at the heart of Lent’s luminous third novel, a transcendent story about the healing power of love and art…. This sympathetic depiction of a decent man wrestling with his demons while deciding whether to revive an old love or open himself to a new lover is … magisterial and beautifully written.”
-Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Poignant . . . In its broadest outline, A Peculiar Grace is a conventional romantic tale.. . . But it’s also a tale about the consolations of meaningful work. . . . Lent has been compared with Faulkner . . . [He] can describe everyday things—a grape harvest, a dirtroad—with fresh, vivid language. He’s also good on the inner life of the middle-aged man: ‘His reveries and regrets, his sudden bursts of energy set against a general feeling of fatigue and winding down.’” —The Denver Post “Another intense exploration of family ties, doomed love, and existential questing from talented, risk-taking Lent . . . As always, Lent writes compellingly of people untangling their pasts and striving to elucidate their connection to the world as well as each other.. . . Sensitively developed characters and gorgeous prose will keep most admirers of serious American fiction engaged.” ––Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Lent presents a commanding present-day drama of rootedness and disconnection, desire and fear, inheritance and freedom. . . . Lent has forged a many-faceted plot, vital characters, convincing psychology, and finely articulated spiritual musings. . . . Lent’s prose is lustrous—rich in supple dialogue and finely patterned imagery. Echoing the rhapsodic specificity and gravitas of Steinbeck and Kent Haruf, Lent has constructed a resolute tale of paradise lost and found.” —Booklist (starred review) “Lent made his name with the generational saga In the Fall, and his second novel, Lost Nation, also possessed a historical sweep. In this book, he tightens his focus. . . . Lent retains his ability to draw full, fascinating characters. Emily provides a memorable portrait of the shocked early days of grief. Anger, remorse, and fragility battle within her as she eludes Hewitt’s attempts to turn her into an object of affection. . . . Jessica grows in complexity, too, proving herself capable of a wisdom that far outstrips the much older Hewitt. . . . And Hewitt’s long-dead father, a successful but reclusive artist, also turns out to be a memorable character, his tragic early life animating much of the book’s current action.” —The Washington Post A Peculiar Grace is an unforgettable tale of obsession, inspiration, and tragedy in a family of New England artists, by an author with “the absolute mastery to create his own reality” —Jim Harrison
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