The Meaning Of Grace

The quiet beauty of this novel is that it works in a magical hum of its own because of Forster's steady and infinite respect for the value of human life and her determination to tell the truth about some mysterious things that are shockingly simple; starting with the immutable force of love between a woman and her children.

Helen Elliot, The Age

It is Forster's ability to recount the characters' experiences with integrity and humour in her distinctive voice that makes this book such a fascinating insight into many people's family lives.

Emily Harms, Readings Monthly

Knotting and unravelling the twisted threads that repel and attract family members to each other, Forster tells a compelling story of family dynamics and sibling rivalry.

Fran Metcalf, Courier Mail

[Forster] is finally living the dream and has followed her successful debut novel with a thought-provoking and emotionally-charged book in Grace.

Lisa Wachsmuth, Illawarra Mercury

...Although this is a page turner...this is no pot boiler. Forster has a lyrical touch that she brings to each chapter.

Samantha Selinger-Morris, Sun Herald, Sydney

Forster is an astute analyst of the unspoken pain within families, and the ways silence exacerbates suffering.

Felicity Plunkett, The Canberra Times

...Forster has a beautiful turn of phrase.

Joanne Sim, Melbourne Weekly

This is a novel of ordinary but extraordinary lives. Grace leaves her husband and takes her three children to live by the sea. She takes responsibility for all of them by this defining act. The children grow up with their single parent, feuding yet loving, self-reliant yet needy. They take different directions in adulthood but are drawn back together by Grace's terminal illness. The writing is lucid, with precise and memorable images. It is a novel built on acute character observation, told with great beauty and that rare thing in fiction: genuine poignancy.

The Age Book of the Year judges, The Age