A small town. A child who needs someone to notice. A kindness that asks for courage.
A new edition is coming from Sourcebooks Landmark.
Why these stories?
I grew up with church music and Sunday singing, deep faith and sturdy skepticism. The people I loved didn’t agree about everything. They taught me to make room for people anyway.
I write about the church world I grew up in and continue to cherish. I love God, but I resist easy answers. In Gracetown, faith leaves room for questions, and kindness sometimes asks more of us than we’d like.
These are stories about caring for one another, falling short, and trying again.
Once you notice,
what do you do?
Bitsy Mitchell knows the rhythms of church and community life in Gracetown, North Carolina. But she keeps noticing seven-year-old Eden: the child left behind, again and again.
As troubling signs accumulate, Bitsy can’t settle for the comfortable explanation that everything is fine. Keeping the peace has its appeal. So does believing the best of people. Neither answers the question Eden has put before her: what responsibility do you have to a child once you’ve begun to see that something is wrong?
WELCOME TO GRACETOWN
People who show up.
Day after day.
At First United Methodist Church of Gracetown, there are handbells to polish, neighbors to look after, and no shortage of opinions about how either should be done.
Gwen Baker has a newsletter to write. Eileen has corrections to make. Families have their disagreements, and other people’s business has a way of becoming everybody’s business.
There’s room here for laughter and doubt, for faith and ordinary kindness. Loving your neighbors doesn’t mean they never get on your nerves.
me, age 6
FROM GWEN’S DESK
Gwen has news.
And a few postscripts.
Word has reached First United Methodist Church of Gracetown about the books. Gwen has prepared an announcement. Eileen has checked it. More or less.
“Heavens, I showed remarkable restraint by not using seven!”