It’s a memorable, poignant, confusing time of life.” “It’s a threshold when he’s on the cusp of leaving childhood behind but not quite ready for manhood. “That’s such an important period of life for a boy,” Krueger says. “The question was: Who would tell the story? I loved it when Frank’s voice came to me.”Īlthough “Ordinary Grace” is not autobiographical, Krueger wanted to capture the essence of small towns in Oregon and Ohio where he grew up, as well as the emotions, memories and experiences he had at 13. “It took a while for the idea to settle in and come to me in a complete way,” he recalls. Krueger says the “seed of the kind of book I wanted to write” was in his mind for more than five years.
Spirituality is an integral part of all of Krueger’s books, and in “Ordinary Grace,” he explores religious belief by contrasting Pastor Drum’s faith in God with his wife’s skepticism. The cast includes the town’s wealthiest man, who once loved Frank’s mother, and the man’s possibly autistic sister. Krueger writes lyrically about Frank’s relationship with his brother, his dad and his dad’s war buddy, Gus, who’s like a second father. When the boys find a body near the river, suspicion falls on the Indian uncle of one of their friends.Īlthough this is not a exactly a mystery, we won’t reveal why Frank feels guilty about shielding the uncle from the local cops, one of whom is a bully. His little brother, Jake, stutters, so nobody realizes how wise he is. His sister, a musical protege, is headed for college. Three more deaths follow, one of which changes Frank’s life.įrank is the son of the town pastor and an artistic, frustrated mother.
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