Grace

by Maggie Gee

Published 26 September 1988
Paula is a victim of mysterious harassment. She lives near the railway line that carries nuclear waste through the heart of London and feels curiously, constantly unwell. Grace, her eighty-five-year-old aunt, once loved by a major painter, now deplores the modern evils that rampage across the world. When she, too, is plagued by silent phone calls, she escapes to Seaborne on the South Coast, where nothing ever happens except quiet deaths and holidays. Bruno is a sexually quirky private detective who attacks daisies with scissors, germs with bleach and old ladies for fun. If he follows Grace to Seaborne, can anything save her? Inspired by the real-life murder of anti-nuclear protester Hilda Murrell, "Grace" is a breathtaking thriller that asks whether, in a secretive, violent Britain, courage and love still count for something.