Universe of Grace, Rachel CalnekSugin
Universe of Grace, Rachel CalnekSugin
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Universe of Grace
A Novel

Author: Rachel Calnek-Sugin

Narrator: Eunice Wong

Unabridged: TBD

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/17/2026

Synopsis

For fans of Beautyland and Everything Everywhere All At Once, a captivating, kaleidoscopic debut novel about the life of a precocious girl trying to figure out who—or what—she is.

One afternoon, on a visit to the Bronx Zoo, a jaguar tells six-year-old Grace Goldberg-Li she isn’t human. Not that this comes as a total surprise. Her life looks normal, but no one else, not even her beloved sister, seems to be experiencing things as brightly and painfully as she does. As she approaches adolescence, Grace begins to think that she might be an alien. Maybe this would explain the urge to steal every beautiful object she can find, or the peculiar voice that’s started issuing apocalyptic warnings inside her head.

In adulthood, Grace still can’t figure it out. Is it the world that’s crazy and falling apart? Or is it her? She will attempt, over and over, to remake herself and find her place in it. She will fall recklessly in love with a gorgeous doctoral student; she will live as a tree in a backyard during the pandemic; she will become the best employee that Wendy’s has ever seen; she will travel to the ends of the earth and keep going.

Moving, imaginative, and endlessly surprising, Universe of Grace is at once a tender family portrait, a queer love story, and an epic quest for self-discovery in a world that’s uncertain and wondrous in equal measure. Covering the span of a single life and everything it touches, Universe of Grace shows us that we are each more interconnected and vast than we can ever know.

About Rachel Calnek-Sugin

Born and raised in New York City, Rachel Calnek-Sugin is a writer, social worker, and educator committed to our individual and collective liberation through art-making, community building, and personal transformation. She loves trees, dancing down the streets of Brooklyn, and cooking extravagant meals for her loved ones. She works as a therapist in New York City’s public schools and writes fiction, nonfiction, plays, and the occasional subway-poem. Universe of Grace is her first novel.

About Eunice Wong

Eunice Wong is a Juilliard-trained actor, listed among Audible's Best Women Narrators, who has recorded over 150 books, for publishers like Macmillan, Penguin Random House, & Simon & Schuster. She is the winner of 2 Audie Awards (Mystery, Multi-Voiced), 14 AudioFile Earphones Awards (8 for solo performances), and the American Library Association's RUSA Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration. Eunice was also an Audie Finalist for "Audiobook of the Year" [lost to Ms. Streisand!], "Best Fiction Narrator" [against Meryl Streep & Ethan Hawke], "Nonfiction" & "Short Stories."Her theater awards include the Helen Hayes Award for Lead Actress, the My Boston Theatre Award for Best Actress, and a Barrymore nomination for Lead Actress. As a writer, she won the L.A. Press Club Award (1st Place), and the Maggie Award.Flipping to 1st person now (hi!): The job is not to read the words; the job is to transport the listener. I aim always to inhabit characters, emotions, and journeys honestly, spontaneously, and with psychological depth, while staying true to the book's unique voice. My narration styles range from intimate and intuitive, channeling emotions from beneath the surface of the text, to wacky and comic, with distinct and laugh-out-loud character creations.EuniceWong.actor

Reviews

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Quotes

‟For fans of the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, Calnek-Sugin’s captivating debut novel delves into the nuances of the human experience, painting a poignant, heartfelt story of queer love, self-discovery, and resilience.”—Booklist

‟Keeps the reader guessing. . . The narrative is peppered with arresting snapshots of the character’s coming of age. ”—Publishers Weekly

‟A big-hearted celebration of the things that tether us to one another (sisterhood, the secret language of a relationship, music, dance, stories!) and a love letter to humanity and the natural world. . . . Reading this novel feels like an encouragement to be your truest self; it is a hand offered if you need it, a buoy in the stormy sea. In tumultuous times, this is a beautiful, life-affirming reminder of what endures.”—Katie Yee, author of Maggie; Or, A Man and A Woman Walk Into a Bar

‟I loved this generous and astonishingly compassionate novel. As Grace grapples with sisterhood, loneliness, first love, and the anxiety and wonder of growing up, it’s the honesty of her thoughts and the sincerity of her emotions that makes her character come powerfully alive. Deep, clear-eyed and painfully tender, Universe of Grace made me see the world in beautiful and unexpected ways.”—Hanna Halperin, author of Something Wild and I Could Live Here Forever

‟As audacious as it is tender, Universe of Grace is the story of a search—for self, for truth, for love, for consolation, for the divine. And while that sounds heady (and this book is keenly smart), it is also sexy, witty, irreverent, and constantly surprising—the sort of book you keep pressing into people’s hands, saying: 'You’ve never read anything like this.' You really haven’t. But my god you’re in for a wild, glorious ride.”—Jen Silverman, author of There's Going to Be Trouble and We Play Ourselves

‟A beautifully endearing coming-of-age novel that does not shy away from difficulties like family, our society, or our planet. Instead, it embraces them all with a layer of hope and love that will leave readers with an emphatic wonder—for both the world we live in and the selves we choose to be.”—Allison King, author of The Phoenix Pencil Company

‟Universe of Grace reminded me of the dizziness experienced by a mirror held up to another mirror and the wonder that comes from watching the endless ripples of a stone thrown into a pond. Filled with the kind of heart and whimsy I’ve been craving for a long time, fans of Aimee Bender and Rachel Khong will be delighted by this Bildungsroman for the age of climate anxiety.”—Melissa Lozada-Oliva, author of Beyond All Reasonable Doubt, Jesus Is Alive!

 ‟Beautiful and funny and poignant and human, and painfully accurate on girlhood and womanhood and fitting in. I was absolutely blown away.”—Laura Evans, author of Little Wild

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