Maria Gaziella Russo (Grace), age 32 and the daughter of old world, traditional Catholics, is living in sin (strike 1) with her true love, Michael, a young doctor involved with stem cell research (strike 2). Both have fallen away from their Catholic faith (strike 3) and, although she speaks about Michael frequently, Grace has never introduced him to her conservative Italian family nor have they invited him to any family functions. Since Michael's mother suffers from advanced Alzheimer's, requiring his frequent attention, and Grace travels frequently as a high-end trip organizer and tour guide, this lack of extended family togetherness has never been a big problem. Then one day, Michael unexpectedly suffers a seizure after a short bout with a flu-like illness.
Grace and Michael are deeply in love and very committed despite Michael's assertion that he isn't quite ready for marriage and family. Grace suspects that Michael may be an atheist, but with her own shaky faith issues, this doesn't really bother her. With the possibility of losing Michael to a devastating illness now in the picture, Grace's family and her boss rush to their support and she is given a serendipitous assignment, to take a local church group to a famous shrine, reputed to be a place of miracles. While planning the group's free tour (won in a raffle and which her boss is trying to provide at zero-cost to himself) with the wise and practical pastor of the parish, she and the priest form a sort of friendship/counselor bond that causes Grace to look at her life and faith from a different perspective.
Don't get the impression that this is a "religious" novel. It is a story of many different aspects of faith, love, and commitment, with splashes of comedy and over-the-top family relationships thrown in. Catholics WILL enjoy it, though! You'll love Grace and Michael and you'll warm up to the Russos with no problem. Dorothea Benton Frank has done it yet again! Highly recommended!
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