Forged in Grace (34 page)
Authors: Jordan E. Rosenfeld
Acknowledgements
This labor of love needs a long list of thanks!
I
’m indebted to Erika Mailman, who took an exhausted new mother’s old scribblings and suggested they were worth pursuing; without her vote of confidence, I’m not sure this book would ever have been finished. To all of my readers, in all of this novel’s incarnations, who also happen to be dear friends and champions: Elizabeth Beechwood, Eros-Alegra Clarke, Myfanwy Collins, Stephanie Garcia Cowan, Patry Francis, Amy Holly, Kemari Howell, Janneke Jobsis-Brown, Rebecca Lawton, Ellen Meister, Amy McElroy, Stephanie Naman, Julia Park Tracey, Robin Slick, Chelsea Starling, and Tomi Wiley James. And to the writers who championed me early on: Ellen Biechler, Susan Bono, Marlene Cullen, Christine Falcon, Claudia Larson, and Barbara Spicer.
To the Master Editrix, Allison McCabe, without whose wise counsel this version of the novel would not exist. And profound thanks to Casey Pagan, a courageous and talented girl who just happens to also be a burn survivor, for her insights into her experience. My sentences are especially grateful to my copy-editor, Susanna Rosen for a quality job (any remaining typos are purely my own).
To ALL the ladies of indie-visible.com for your courage and support! You are brave and bold.
To
“the bitches,” most of whom are mentioned above, but including other dearests: Klay Arsenault, Emily Brown, Suzi Sellers and Roslyn Weatherall, who allow me room to vent my “not fit” side in safety.
To my parents and grandparents: whose conviction that I would succeed as a writer, and steady flow of journals, typewriter ink, writing guides and encouragement made it possible.
Reader Discussion Guide
1.
What is the source of Grace’s healing gift and its relationship to her physical trauma? What does it represent to Grace, and to other characters?
2.
Discuss empathy. At what point does empathy cross over into co-dependence? How does that apply to Grace and Marly’s relationship? To relationships with minor characters?
3.
What was it like to read this first person narrative, which plants you so deeply inside Grace’s perspective? Did it make it harder or easier to understand what she has been through?
4.
How did you feel about Grace’s choice not to heal sick children? Why do you think she ultimately chose not to?
5.
Did your feelings about Marly change from the beginning of the book to the end? Did you have more or less compassion for her at different points in the book?
6.
What do you make of the varying uses of fire and water symbols in the book?
7.
Discuss the theme of sexuality in the novel, and the ways that Marly and Grace use their sexuality for both healthy and unhealthy means.
8.
Discuss the nature of the bond between Grace and Marly. What is their friendship really founded upon? What does each need to learn in order to become whole, healthy adults?
9.
How are themes of internal and external beauty, and self-perception, particularly in the form of photographs, used in this novel? Discuss “kinds of seeing”—with the eyes, and with the heart. What is seen and not seen?
10.
What do you make of Grace’s power turning “dark.” What’s happening? What is the author trying to convey?
11.
Did you find the author’s use of small flashbacks, most of them gleaned through Grace’s contact with other people, effective at revealing the characters’ back-story, or not?
12.
What future do you envision or hope for the main characters after the book’s end?
13.
Discuss the character of Gus. What did he represent, both in the book, and to Grace? Why do you think the author chose the particular fate she did for him?
About the Author, Jordan E. Rosenfeld
Jordan E. Rosenfeld learned early on that people prefer a storyteller to a know-it-all. She channeled any Hermione-esque tendencies into a career as a writing coach, editor and freelance journalist, and saves the Tall Tales for her novels. She earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is the author of the books,
Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time
(Writer’s Digest Books)—which has sold over 20,000 copies, and co-author of
Write Free! Attracting the Creative Life
with Rebecca Lawton (BeijaFlor Books). Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in such publications as
AlterNet.org, Publisher’s Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, the St. Petersburg Times, The Writer
and
Writer’s Digest
magazine. Her book commentaries have appeared on
The California Report
, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio. She lives in Northern California with her superhero-obsessed son and Psychologist husband.
She also blogs the column My Big Mouth at
www.indie-visible.com
.