True Grace

Karen E. Osborne hops genres this round and proves the best authors refuse to be categorized. True Grace, Osborne’s first dip into historical fiction squeezes the reader's heart in the first pages with a grip that refuses to yield until the last paragraph.

Osborne’s heartbreaking tale of a family in peril is set in Renaissance Harlem with flashes of The Congo, England, and Jamaica. It’s a story of a woman, Grace Herbert, battling against two truths and one misperception—she’s Black, she’s a woman, and she’s the only one who can save her family.

Beautifully written, Osborne immerses the reader in 1920s Harlem in the same fashion as Colson Whitehead did in his novel Harlem Shuffle set in the 1960s. The book’s theme, reminiscent of Yu Hua’s novel-turned-movie To Live, reminds us that the capability to endure suffering with ragged optimism is often portrayed by ordinary people…people who choose to ignore fate and instead plunge forward with instinctive faith in themselves. In Grace’s case, she also finds “grace” in those surrounding her.

I absolutely loved this book!

“True Grace” by Karen E. Osborne is an absolute page turner—I couldn’t stop reading it until I reached the end. Taking place in the Roaring Twenties in Harlem, Grace (a mixed-race immigrant with a British father and an African mother) experiences the worst sort of betrayal imaginable from her husband and becomes forced to make heartbreaking decisions in order to save her family. We see the inequities faced by people of color, women in particular. From the police reports, the childcare services, the banks—Grace holds her head up high and does what it takes—even though her children blame her for the change in their lives. I feel so invested in this character I want to know what happens to her—all the way up to her old age.
Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for a review copy of this remarkable book. A strong five stars (in fact, if I could give ten, I would).

Grace was a fierce and astonishing woman. This was a heartfelt and moving story.
Many thanks to Black Rose Writing and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.