A Christmas Grace, Anne Perry
A Christmas Grace, Anne Perry
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

A Christmas Grace

Author: Anne Perry

Narrator: Terrence Hardiman

Unabridged: 4 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2008


Synopsis

With Christmas just around the corner, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law, Emily Radley, is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Leaving her husband and two children behind, she makes the long journey to her aunt’s home in Connemara, an all-but-forgotten town on the coast of Western Ireland. Emily soon discovers that a tragic legacy is haunting the once close-knit community. Violent storms ravage the coast and keep alive painful memories of an unsolved murder—and unsettling fears that a culprit may still be among them. Determined to lighten her aunt’s spirits and help the troubled community, Emily sets out to unmask the killer. And when a lone shipwreck survivor washes up on the shore, he brings with him not only the key to solving the terrible crime, but the opportunity for the townspeople to make peace with the past—and with each other.

About Anne Perry

Sometimes the personal story of a particular author seems almost as intriguing as the books they write. Such is the life of British author Anne Perry (aka Juliet Marion Hulme). As a child Hulme was very ill with tuberculosis and ended up being fostered out by a family in the Caribbean. She did get better, and the family moved to a private island in New Zealand, where she describes her life as a Swiss family Robinson type existence. She became ill again and during her bouts of illness through her teen years, she missed most of her childhood education. However, her mother had prepared her by teaching her how to read and write by the time she was four. Her heart always seemed to be in writing.

At the age of 15, Juliet and her best friend plotted and killed her friend's mother. The three went for a walk in the park and Hulme dropped a stone, causing the mother to bend over to pick it up, and her friend hit her own mother on the head with a half brick. They had planned on the strike killing her, but they had to strike her 20 times before she was dead. The girls were put on trial and each served five years in prison. It is said that they never saw each other again after being released. For many years, nobody connected author Anne Perry as the teen murderer, Juliet Hulme. In 1994, the film Heavenly Creatures, portrayed Hulme and her friend Pauline Parker with characters being played by Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey respectively.

Perry's genre of writing covers Victorian Era Detective fiction for the most part. Her novels have been centered around two main characters, Thomas Pitt and William Monk. She has published 47 novels and several collections of stories.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cortney on December 24, 2008

This story had great potential, but the pacing was off. Investigation into the mystery did not start until halfway in to the book. The first one-hundred pages consisted mostly of the village's fears and tension that Emily Radley could sense, but could not quite put her finger on. It was frustrating.......more

Goodreads review by El baúl de las certezas on December 18, 2022

3.5 / 5 ⭐......more

Goodreads review by Randi Annie on November 23, 2019

Emily Radley, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law and a known character from other of Perry's works, leaves her family just before Christmas to go to Ireland because her aunt is terminally ill. On arrival she discovers that there is something sinister and strange going on in the village and people are too a......more

Goodreads review by Rayni on July 16, 2009

I have tried not to read any of the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt novels because I'm afraid in my obsessiveness, I'll have to read them all at once. I've been there, done that. However, that being said, I really enjoyed this "between the numbers" book from the Pitt novels. I've enjoyed Perry's other Chris......more

Goodreads review by Randy on November 27, 2017

Emily Radley, reluctantly goes to a relative who is dying. Emily would much rather stay home, but does the right thing. Soon Emily discovers why her Aunt Suzanna wanted her to come. To solve a seven-year-old murder mystery. Anne does capture the scene, time and season. It's 1890's, and I feel there. Ye......more