The seven luminous stories collected in Robert Mouthrop's "Grace" range from lightly comic to darkly complex. The voices are diverse — hopeful, angry, uncertain, amused, despairing — even where loss is profound, there are grace notes.

Sample from "Mrs Mellors":
"In mid-March she had bent over a cluster of yellow crocuses, strongly pointing out their snow bravery to her excited fifth graders. The star that burst so suddenly in her brain made her blue eyes go wide with surprise. She moved gracefully to her knees in the snow as the children watched. She was always full of unexpected drama, and they were a willing audience. She fell, quite slowly, sideways in the snow, and only after some seconds did one tiny dark-haired girl begin to cry..."