The Four Graces is the last in the loosely connected quartet of novels that began with Miss Buncle's Book. Miss Buncle, now Mrs. Abbott, doesn't even figure in this book. Instead, while there are a few overlapping characters from the third book, The Two Mrs. Abbotts, we enter the lives of a completely new to us family. The vicar, Mr. Grace, and his four daughters. The family is a close-knit and loving one. But now the four sisters are in their early to mid twenties. Abbie has already moved to London to work in some sort of secretarial job. Liz works on the nearby manor farm, owned by Archie Chevis-Cobbe, producing food on the homefront. Tilly plays the organ for the church services and Sal is the homemaker. This novel chronicles three people that come into their lives one summer, a soldier, a husband-hunting, manipulative aunt, and an archaeologist professor getting started on a dig of an old Roman fort.
The war is in the background all the time; the times have been hard, but the ordinary, every day lives in the little village go on, having to deal with obnoxious people, jealousy, familial changes, romance and growing up.
I've really been on a D.E. Stevenson jag. I'm glad she was recommended to me. She's just the gentle escape I've needed lately. I might take a break from her now for a bit and move on to heavier stuff. I feel stronger now!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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