Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger *****

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger is the story of two families in rural Minnesota in the summer of 1961 when five people died (as remembered by 13-year-old Frank Drum forty years later.) Frank’s father is a Methodist minister, and the other family, the Brandts, is the richest in town. It was a summer of death. ”Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.” There is a murder mystery, but the beauty of the novel is the characters-damaged, flawed, and seeking grace. With so much pain and death, no villain emerges.

A poignant tale of people struggling to make peace with God and themselves-some successful, some not.

The towns (New Bremen, Cadbury, Fosburg) were in the Minnesota River valley outside of Mankato.

Some minor spoilers follow:

The Drum family

Frank: Young teenager. Narrator forty years in the future.

Jake: Frank’s younger brother. Stutters.

Ariel: Sister. New high school graduated. Accepted to Juilliard for the fall. Born with a cleft lip.

Nathan: Frank’s father. Was going to be a lawyer, until WWII. He became a Methodist minister. (We don’t know what happened in the war.)

Ruth: Frank’s mother.

Lloyd and Liz: Ruth’s father and stepmother.

 

The Brandt family

Karl: Future heir to a brewery fortune. Ariel’s boyfriend. Drives a red Triumph TR3.

Axel and Julia: Karl’s parents. She is his wife, arrogant, fortune seeker from a poor family

Emil: Famous musician. Came back from WWII with his face disfigured and blind. Formerly engaged to Ruth. Ariel’s music teacher. Ariel is transcribing his memoir.

Lise: Emil’s deaf sister. Doesn’t like to be touched. (We never find out why.)

 

Five deaths

Accident: Bobby Cole: Run over by a train (We never find out if this is an accident or not.)

Nature: The itinerant: Found dead by the river (We never find out the circumstances.)

Murder: Ariel Drum.

Suicide: Karl Brandt.

Morris Engdahl: Bully. Having sex with underage Judy Kleinschmidt.

Other characters:

Doyle: Suspicious police officer.

Gus: Was in the war with Nathan Drum. Calls him Captain.

Danny O’Keefe: Frank’s native American friend.

Warren Redstone: Danny’s great uncle.

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