Unlike the Graces of Greek mythology, the ones in Patricia Gaffney's feel-good novel, The Saving Graces, are not in the business of dispensing charm and beauty. Though they possess some measure of good looks, Gaffney's Graces are more focused on the less ethereal problems of life: men, careers, babies, death. And there are four, rather than three, of them (Emma, Rudy, Lee, and Isabel), who have been getting together for regular dinners in their Washington, D.C., homes for 10 years.

The narration of The Saving Graces rotates among the four women and gets right to the heart of each Grace--the stories they tell stick close to the territory of their emotional lives. This intimate directness makes Gaffney's women seem, well, womanly. Serene Isabel, who has always been "the best champion, the kindest friend" to all the other Graces, is dying of breast cancer. Rudy needs to leave her ultra-controlling husband. Lee, usually the rational one, is possessed by her desire to have a baby. Ironic Emma wants to write a novel and has a hard crush on a married man. This group feels messy and real: they keep secrets from each other, grate on one another's nerves, and analyze each other. But ultimately, all four know that they've lucked into a very good thing. Not just because they share the sweetness and silliness that comes with friendship, but also because they are willing to act as soldiers for each other. When Rudy finally gets up the nerve to leave her husband, for example, she doesn't do it alone: "Isabel stood on my right, Lee on my left. Emma had taken a seat on the bed--an escalation of the offense, usurping more enemy territory." In Gaffney's universe, women armed with grace, humor, and a couple of good girlfriends can transcend even the most painful events in their lives. --Katherine Anderson


From Publishers Weekly
Formulaic but sprightly, Gaffney's debut is a variation on the theme of women's solidarity and bravery. Four friends in Washington, D.C., have been meeting once a week for 10 years, relying on each other for laughter, advice and encouragement. There's Emma, approaching 40 and in love with a married man named Mick; Rudy, the unstable depressive whose marriage is on the rocks; happily married Lee, who desperately wishes to have a child with her husband, Henry; and Isabel, the divorced cancer survivor who is in love with her neighbor, Kirby. They call themselves "The Saving Graces," after a dog they once hit with a car, rescued and nursed to recovery: now "she's old and grizzled like us... but she is the sweetest dog." Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the Graces, and though Gaffney provides each character with a distinctive voice, the stories are overly emotional and predictable. Together the women help each other with their various love troubles until Isabel's cancer returns, a blow that brings them even closer, "putting things in perspective" and setting the scene for the inevitable weepy ending. The Graces eventually get what they long for; each finds her own brand of bittersweet satisfaction, with hard-won lessons learned. "We don't go around calling ourselves [the Saving Graces] in public," says Emma. "It's corny; it sounds like a TV sitcom... starring Valerie Bertinelli, Susan Dey and Cybill Shepherd. Notice these are all attractive, smart, funny women who happen to be a little long in the tooth." While Graces reads much like daytime drama, it lacks the suspense of that medium; we know how things will work out right from the beginning. But since TV doesn't travel to the beach, this novel may provide a soap opera fix under a sun umbrella. 100,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; author tour; rights sold in Germany, Sweden, Finland, England and Norway. (July) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Historical romance novelist Gaffney (Outlaw in Paradise, LJ 8/97) breaks into contemporary womens fiction with this poignant story about friendship. Emma, Rudy, Lee, and Isabel have been a tight-knit group for ten years. These are real women, full of human flaws, and all are at life-changing crossroads. Emma, single and 40, finds herself in a platonic affair with a married man. Rudy, six years married, must decide whether to sacrifice her mental health on the altar of her husband. Lees inability to conceive a child casts an ominous shadow over her blissful marriage. Isabel is the oldest of the Graces. With their support she has vanquished a philandering husband and breast cancer. But two years later, there are some things that even friendship cant surmount. The Saving Graces is a character-driven novel, and Gaffney has a keen sense of direction. Bring tissues.-Jodi L. Israel, Jamaica Plain, MACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
For more than a decade, Emma (struggling novelist in love with a married man), Isabel (divorced and happier than ever before, despite her bout with breast cancer), Lee (happily married and trying to get pregnant), and Rudy (survivor of a bad childhood and afraid to challenge her husband's possessiveness) have supported each other through the good times and the bad. Now each faces a crisis, but none more so than Isabel, whose cancer has metastasized. How each woman comes to terms both with her own life and Isabel's death is the subject of this bighearted, clearly autobiographical first novel. Although the ending is predictable from page one (the man in Emma's life will leave his wife to be with her and she will find a subject for her novel, Isabel will die, Rudy will finally get up the nerve to leave her husband, and Lee will realize that having a baby is not worth destroying her once very happy marriage), the characters are a delight and the story fast-moving. Gaffney's writing style is always more than capable and occasionally achieves distinction, as in the wrenching description of Isabel's experiences after her first chemotherapy session. This ode to the friendships between women could easily become the northern version of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (1996). Buy accordingly. Nancy Pearl


From Kirkus Reviews
A sweetly affirmative if teary-eyed story, Washington, D.C.set, of four women who find consolation in friendship as they cope with clich issues from breast cancer to infertility. For more than ten years, Lee, Emma, Rudy, and Isabel have been getting together regularly for talk, dinner, and mutual support. They call themselves the ``Saving Graces'' because they once hit a dog while driving home after dinner, but managed to save it and named her Grace. Isabel, almost saintly in appearance and action, is the oldest, the group's den mother, and the only one with a child. As the story opens, she's divorced, trying to make a new life, and recovering from breast cancer. Lee, knowledgeable and professional, is married to Henry, a sweet hunk of a plumber, and wants a baby, but can't get pregnant. Rudy, whose family is a mess, is seeing a therapist and trying to make a life without angering her manipulative husband, Curtis. Emma, a single journalist, wants to write fiction and marry. Eventually, Isabel loses her battle with the cancer, but she finds a new love. Lee's marriage is strained by her unsuccessful infertility treatments. Rudy's struggle for autonomy is battered by Curtis's cruel lies. And Emma falls in love with a married man. But each woman can depend on the others for support, so that when the crises come, they're all there to pitch in with help, affection, and food. The dying Isabel, wise and loyal to the end, writes a letter to be read after her death that neatly counsels her friends on what to do with their livesadvice they immediately heed, thereby finding the requisite happiness such a tale demands. Strong characters making the best of an often schematic but always readable story. It's Gaffneys first hardcoverand a great book for the beach. (First printing of 100,000; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book selections; $200,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Women: combine their incredible yet subtle inner strength with the unique bonds of friendship, and the result is one of the most powerful forces on earth. Author Patricia Gaffney has tapped into that force with a poignant portrait of four remarkable women in her newest novel, The Saving Graces.

For the past 10 years, Rudy, Emma, Isabel, and Lee have shared a bond of affection, support, and understanding that gives each of them the strength to deal with the many ups and downs in their lives. Their connection, born out of a coincidental meeting, is carried on through regular gatherings — usually dinners — where they talk, share, commiserate, and laugh. Their bond is as mysterious and ephemeral as a ghost, yet each of them knows beyond a doubt that it is there and draws strength from it in times of need.

For Rudy, the beauty in the group, the Saving Graces offers a level of stability she never had as a child. Having come from a highly dysfunctional family, her definition of love is warped, though her capacity to provide it is endless. Under the guidance of a therapist she has been seeing for years, she will come to understand why she is clinging so desperately to her manipulative and devious husband, whose true colors are much darker than anyone suspects. And with the help of the other Graces, she will discover the true meaning of love, finding herself in the process.

Emma, a woman with a fiery personality to match her hair color, is the skeptic of the group. Though she is single, it isn't from a lack of dates. In fact, Emma has made going through mensomethingof a lifestyle. Jaded and bitter from past experiences, she thinks love is an imaginary concept, a fairy tale for those out of touch with reality. Then she meets Mick and finds that love does indeed exist. Except Mick is someone she can't have: He belongs to someone else. Torn between her morals and her heart, Emma will experience heartache unlike any she's ever known. The only thing that gets her through it is the love and support of the Graces.

Lee is generally regarded by all as the most stable one in the group. Her loving marriage to Henry makes it seem as if she has life by the tail. But when she and Henry decide to start a family, the specter of infertility is raised. Before long, Lee's pursuit of motherhood becomes an obsession that threatens her happiness and her marriage. Her main source of support, which will also produce some hard truths, is the Graces.

Isabel is the eldest of the Graces by nearly a decade. Having already survived the emotional and financial blows inflicted by a bitter divorce, she possesses a hard-earned wisdom and an inner strength. But then she comes face to face with her biggest battle yet — breast cancer. The Graces must prepare themselves for a crisis that will be the ultimate test of their love and commitment to one another.

Told from the alternating points of view of each of the four characters, The Saving Graces is, in turn, touching, funny, inspirational, and utterly unforgettable. It is intelligent women's fiction, richly rendered and intimately told. Bring your tissues along for the ride.

—Beth Amos

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Friendship sustains and enriches women's lives in ways no romantic or family relationship ever can. Now, in this wonderfully warm, humorous, and moving novel, Patricia Gaffney paints a rich portrait of this sometimes delicate yet resilient bond through the lives of four charming, vividly real women you'll swear you know—women who will become old friends you'll always remember.

For ten years, Emma, Rudy, Lee, and Isabel have shared a deep affection that has helped them deal with husbands, lovers, careers, children—the ebb and flow of expectations and disappointments common to us all. Calling themselves the Saving Graces, the quartet is united by understanding, honesty, and acceptance—a connection that has grown stronger as the years go by...

Though these sisters of the heart and soul have seen it all, talked through it all, they will not be prepared for a crisis of astounding proportions that will put their love, loyalty, and courage to the ultimate test.

Captivating from the first chapter to the last, this mesmerizing story illuminates the emotional links that define and join us as women. Funny, inspirational, joyous, and oh-so-true, The Saving Graces is an audiobook no listener will forget—a story to be passed from friend to friend.

Reader Bio:
Judith Ivey has earned Tony for her work in Hurlyburly and Steaming and an Emmy nomination for the television movie What the Deaf Man Heard. Her many film credits include Devil's Advocate, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Mystery, Alaska.

SYNOPSIS

E-Book Extra: Afterword by Patricia Gaffney: "Which Grace"

Meet Emma, Rudy, Lee, and Isabel -- four of the best friends a woman can ever have. For ten years they've been united by understanding, honesty, and acceptance. Now they'll face a crisis of astounding proportions that will put their love and courage to the ultimate test.

FROM THE CRITICS

Nora Roberts

A jewel of a book and every facet sparkles.

Michael Lee West

Rich, Lovely...An intimate portrayal of friendships through the eyes of four unforgettable women. I hated to put it down!

Washington Post Book World

Compelling...breathtaking...unique.

Times-Picayune

Anyone who's ever raised a glass to toast her women friends will love this book—its raw emotion, its rueful humor, its life lessons.

Publishers Weekly

Formulaic but sprightly, Gaffney's debut is a variation on the theme of women's solidarity and bravery. Four friends in Washington, D.C., have been meeting once a week for 10 years, relying on each other for laughter, advice and encouragement. There's Emma, approaching 40 and in love with a married man named Mick; Rudy, the unstable depressive whose marriage is on the rocks; happily married Lee, who desperately wishes to have a child with her husband, Henry; and Isabel, the divorced cancer survivor who is in love with her neighbor, Kirby. They call themselves "The Saving Graces," after a dog they once hit with a car, rescued and nursed to recovery: now "she's old and grizzled like us... but she is the sweetest dog." Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the Graces, and though Gaffney provides each character with a distinctive voice, the stories are overly emotional and predictable. Together the women help each other with their various love troubles until Isabel's cancer returns, a blow that brings them even closer, "putting things in perspective" and setting the scene for the inevitable weepy ending. The Graces eventually get what they long for; each finds her own brand of bittersweet satisfaction, with hard-won lessons learned. "We don't go around calling ourselves [the Saving Graces] in public," says Emma. "It's corny; it sounds like a TV sitcom... starring Valerie Bertinelli, Susan Dey and Cybill Shepherd. Notice these are all attractive, smart, funny women who happen to be a little long in the tooth." While Graces reads much like daytime drama, it lacks the suspense of that medium; we know how things will work out right from the beginning. But since TV doesn't travel to the beach, this novel may provide a soap opera fix under a sun umbrella. 100,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; author tour; rights sold in Germany, Sweden, Finland, England and Norway. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. Read all 7 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Patricia Gaffney paints a vivid portrait of four very different women and the bonds between them. Friendship with its compassion and impatience, love with its powers and weaknesses, life with its triumphs and failures are brilliantly voiced through characters so real they might be sitting in your living room sharing a bottle of wine. Those who don't recognize themselves or their friends in The Saving Graces will wish they did. This is a jewel of a book, and every facet sparkles. — Nora Roberts