Beyond Grace’s Rainbow

by Carmel Harrington

From the USA Today and Irish Times bestselling author of The Moon Over Kilmore Quay comes an emotional and poignant story of love, family and resilience.

Meet Grace…

When young single mother Grace Devlin is diagnosed with cancer her best chance of survival is to find a bone marrow transplant. Only Grace is adopted and her one previous attempt to connect with her birth mother resulted in bitter disappointment.

But with her young son Jack to think about, and the return of his father Liam reminding her of feelings she’d thought she’d buried long ago, Grace refuses to give up hope just yet.

With the help of her friends she bravely embarks on a journey of discovery – one that will bring her from her home in vibrant Dublin to the unspoilt beauty of the picturesque Wexford coast where Grace must unravel a web of lies and deceit that has spanned over thirty years.

With a wonderful cast of supporting characters and plenty of Irish charm, this unforgettable novel will have you laughing and crying at the turn of a page.

It’s time to curl up with Carmel…

Carmel Harrington is an exciting new Irish voice in women’s fiction – a must read for fans of Jean Grainger, Maeve Binchy and Jojo Moyes!

Readers love Carmel Harrington:

“This book. There are no words and five stars seems such a low bar when this book is as shockingly good as it is. I even found myself screaming NO WAY and almost woke my baby just because the twists and turns had me that shocked.” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“It’s FULL of heart and I’m warning you, it’ll SMASH yours – but put it back together again just before the end.” USA Today bestselling author, Catherine Ryan Howard

“An unputdownable journey between New York and Wexford. It is a story about family and identity, about legacy and secrets, and is ultimately a touching love letter to Ireland… She delivers heartache and laughter, and plenty of surprises along the way.” New York Times bestselling author, Hazel Gaynor

“It’s a BEAUTY!… Quite simply up there with Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn.” No.1 bestselling author, Claudia Carroll

• ISBN13: 9780007559565
• Publish Date: 14 November 2013 (first published 12 September 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: One More Chapter
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Leah]

Beyond Grace’s Rainbow is a novel that has had rave reviews since its release. Everyone who’s read it has loved it and I was rather desperate to find out for myself. It’s been sitting on my kindle a while, so I started it, hoping for a fantastic read that lived up to all the reviews and awards it’s won. Unfortunately, I didn’t really see what all of the fuss was about; I thought it was quite simplistic and I just thought everything was all hearts and flowers, despite Grace’s illness.

Beyond Grace’s Rainbow introduces us to Grace who at the beginning of the book is diagnosed with cancer. Trouble is, she’s also got a 3 year old son to take care of so anything other than survival is not an option. With all of her friends rallying round, Grace is determined to beat this thing, but her best hope of winning is a bone marrow transfusion and since Grace is adopted and has a very rare blood type it means she will have to get in touch with her biological mother after all these years. Also back on the scene is Grace’s ex Luke, who is determined to show he’s changed and to prove he can be the partner Grace needs and the son his father wants.

When I started Beyond Grace’s Rainbow, I was initially very intrigued by the book. But I could tell straight away that I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. It was too simplistic, very dumbed down – or so it seemed. There was an overuse of exclamation points – at least 5 or so to a page which made everything seem falsely happy and cheery. Everyone laughed when they spoke and I became desperate for it to end. It just didn’t work for me at all. It pains me to type that, but I have to be honest. I just couldn’t get on with it at all.

The premise is great, and I loved the idea of friends being family, and I thought Luke seemed very genuine (although I would have liked if we had got to see him before because how do we know how he acted? We’re only ever told…) but I felt the writing let it down somewhat. If it had just had a bit better structure and maybe a bit of tighter editing and less exclamation marks I would have probably enjoyed it more, but as it was, I was overwhelmingly disappointed.