BETWEEN
Living Between the Cracks is the first book in D’Angelo’s new series.
Book 1, BETWEEN, follows the first thirty years of the unusual life of Grace MacGregor who decides at age five she wants to be a saint so she can float up and check out what’s beyond the blue sky. Grace attends Catholic School and is enamoured with the romance of being the Bride of Christ as well as studying to become a missionary doctor in Africa. She is also obsessed with wanting to know about sex.
Under spiritual duress, Grace leaves the nunnery and marries the first man she sleeps with. Ten years later she finds herself divorced with sole custody of five children and no financial support. Grace temporarily moves everyone to an island in the Caribbean to clear her head with the intent of emigrating to New Zealand. When she returns to Canada to apply for their passports, her life takes an unusual turn.
To most who meet her, Grace is a warm, intelligent, and generous woman, albeit somewhat unconventional. Very few know that Grace has certain gifts; she often finds herself living between the cracks—the cracks between time and space. She lives centuries forward and backward, travels through unknown universes and often disappears and lives full lives – some in parallel universes, some not always human – and then she is back, right here, right now. The wrinkles in time that Grace falls into at the oddest moments fuel her, fill her, and emboldened her to persevere. Nothing in her outward life changes; however, in her mind, everything changes.
Hold on to your hats as this endearing and often funny protagonist takes you beyond what we consider normal.
Order your copy of Between today! And please don’t forget to leave a review.
PRAISE for BETWEEN from KIRKUS REVIEWS
“In this coming-of-age novel, a young woman grapples with faith and unusual powers. Bradley’s bildungsroman tells the story of Grace MacGregor. A brief prologue informs readers of Grace’s gifts, which include sensing someone’s past and future and even traveling through time. Grace’s first-person narration is a detailed and largely realistic depiction of growing up after World War 11.
This series opener is a treasure trove of details and vivid characters. Grace certainly has intriguing abilities. Bradley has a keen eye for detail. The novel’s main achievement is Grace, whose unusual powers mirror her strange temperament. The author skillfully captures the earnestness and innocence of Grace’s divine aspirations. Moving through the years, Bradley’s chronicle reveals the youthful impatience to mature and be important but pauses here and there to sketch indelible portraits of human triumph and tragedy. A rich, evocative tale of growing up in Canada.” – Kirkus Review
How to Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner
“An ode—and even a bit of a passport—to living a mindful life.
D’Angelo counsels that we take a moment to reflect upon ourselves, shake off inhibitions, give received opinions a pass and take a breath. A deep breath, a whole chorus of them, and relax, find some balance. Her book starts as dawn breaks: You awake, take those breaths, concentrate on awareness.
How will you conduct yourself today? Will you be a stooge—to the media, to authority, to a life lived without examination—or will you be guided by fellow-feeling, peace, delicacy, empathy, love? In writing that is like a gentling hand—a bit of the counterculture, some Eastern philosophy, a soupçon of the more kindly and gracious aspects of organized religions, even a shot of classical physics—she shows readers ways to be attentive to how we are players in our mood and worldview, and how we can act, individually and in concert, to help create more joy in the everyday. This may be as simple as taking those balancing breaths so that you sally forth with composure, or be conscious of what you eat and where it came from, or scrutinize the actions of governments; to live peacefully, open to wonder and miracle. About us, she avers, there is “something that is all permeating,” something more than evident, and that something—call it what you will; D’Angelo doesn’t insist on God—conveys a sense of purpose.
The themes of walking lightly, lovingly and alive in the world, questioning self-appointed—or any other—authority, living in the present,are well wrought.Despite wormholes, D’Angelo is a force for good. Guidance in that direction should never go begging.” – Kirkus Reviews
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