Review: The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton

Title: The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton

Author: Anstey Harris

Publisher: Simon and Schuster (Australia), Jan 1st 2019

Pages: 368 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

My Rating: 3.5 cups

Synopsis:

Jojo Moyes meets Eleanor Oliphant in The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton, an utterly charming novel that proves that sometimes you have to break your heart to make it whole.

Grace once had the beginnings of a promising musical career, but she hasn't been able to play her cello publicly since a traumatic event at music college years ago. Since then, she's built a quiet life for herself in her small English village, repairing instruments and nurturing her long- distance affair with David, the man who has helped her rebuild her life even as she puts her dreams of a family on hold until his children are old enough for him to leave his loveless marriage.

But when David saves the life of a woman in the Paris Metro, his resulting fame shines a light onto the real state of the relationship(s) in his life. Shattered, Grace hits rock bottom and abandons everything that has been important to her, including her dream of entering and winning the world's most important violin-making competition. Her closest friends--a charming elderly violinist with a secret love affair of his own, and her store clerk, a gifted but angst-ridden teenage girl--step in to help, but will their friendship be enough to help her pick up the pieces?

Filled with lovable, quirky characters, this poignant novel explores the realities of relationships and heartbreak and shows that when it comes to love, there's more than one way to find happiness.

My Thoughts

The aspect I enjoyed most about The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton was the interesting characters and Grace’s relationship with them.

The story starts with Grace, the protagonist, spending time with her married boyfriend. I didn’t like the fact she was committing infidelity, I thought that bit could have been  changed to just a long distance relationship, but the way the story progressed with them hiding their relationship, I guess it was needed.

“Anyone could tell we are a couple. Even his wife. Even his children.”

Grace stays with David in Paris, as often as he can get away from his family. He tells her, he is in a loveless marriage and she believes him.

“Although they live in the same house, David and his wife rarely talk nowadays...I have learnt over the years, to avoid thinking about David’s home life. To imagine that he and his wife share a bedroom, that they used to talk in the dark like we do, would twist a cruel knife deep into an already livid injury.”

The rest of the time, Grace runs a shop repairing and restoring musical instruments. It’s a quiet, uneventful life, but Grace enjoys it. She would be a famous musician if a tragic event in her past hadn’t happened. Due to the event, she is unable to publically play her cello, she can only play freely when no one is listening.

Grace has an unusual friendship with an elderly man, who is one of her customers.

“I have arranged to see Mr Wlliams today - he is one of my favourite customers, Nadia’s too. He isn’t a great player, although he’s a good one, but he’s erudite and interesting and there’s something delightfully anachronistic about his perfect suits and silk cravats. The other thing that draws me to Mr Wiliams is that I know loneliness when I see it.”

I really enjoyed reading about the way these two unusual friends relate to each other. Grace also has a friendship with a 17 year old girl who works for her, Nadia. She is a moody teenager with problems of her own, but she is an amazing violinist who offers to help Grace overcome her fear of performing in public.

“...‘I’m going to coach you,’ she says. With other people, there might be gentle warm-up to this. It might be a question rather than a statement, or an offer couched and hidden in less controversial things.”

Grace becomes a mentor for Nadia, more like a substitute mum because Nadia’s family don’t understand her. I enjoyed reading how their relationship developed and how they helped each other.

When an event occurs and David’s family find out about the affair, Grace has a mental breakdown and does something she will always regret. These two people, Mr Williams and Nadia, help her and bring her back from the brink of despair.

This book has a lot of underlying issues and was an enjoyable and easy read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.