Unaccustomed to Grace

“There is a clear-hearted and humane writer at work here, whose work holds room for both suffering and grace.”
—Shruti Swami, A House is a Body and The Archer

“Bannatyne’s stories are full of heartache and loss, but they are never bleak or cynical. Rendered in magnetic prose, her emotional landscapes, pockmarked by violence, are as majestic as the moon’s surface. Bannatyne is a superb writer of the mind, but an even greater reader of the heart. This book, filled with characters caught in between futility and redemption, was, for me, an exercise—a deliberation—in empathy.”
—Sui Li, 5 Under 35 honoree, Transoceanic Lights

“From macabre fantasy to raw reality, Lesley Bannatyne's terrific stories introduce an authentic voice and unique vision. Unaccustomed to Grace revels in danger, in warped heroes, in ebullient—sometimes devastating—fearlessness. A wise and thoroughly enjoyable book!”
—Daphne Kalotay, Russian Winter, The Blue Hours

“These carefully observed, sometimes surreal stories capture characters in freefall. Each one—wolf wrangler, tarot card reader, guru, anthropologist, Soviet farmer, or parents of children taken, gone, returned, or fragile—will find a place in your heart.”
—Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Language of Flowers

“Unaccustomed to Grace gets me in the gut, reaffirming all the reasons why I would follow Lesley Bannatyne’s characters to the moon and back. These stories are bizarre, unrestrained, and ultimately wise. Dropping ordinary people into funny and uncanny situations, Bannatyne redefines grace. In the words of the collection’s final story, ‘We are imperfect. We try, mess up, change, mess up, try again. But we’re all still here. That’s it. That’s the miracle.’”
—Dr. Elisabeth McKetta, She Never Told Me About the Ocean

“Lesley Bannatyne’s stories in Unaccustomed to Grace are harrowing, funny, magical, and heartbreakingly, reassuringly human. Here we are with our flaws and troubles, and also our insight and even our grace. There’s a shimmering mythic streak through them, too, that sets Bannatyne in the tradition of seanchaithe – storytellers – who wield the old enchantments with an unerring instinct for revealing the soul’s sickness and its perfect cure. She seems to have x-ray vision that peers straight into the human heart, and a flawless ear for the bumps and rhythms of talk. This is a marvelous book, full of wonder, courage, and truth, and it’s a great pleasure to read. I loved it!”
—Dr. Kate Chadbourne, A November Visit

“These are stories to read and ponder, to share with others, to admire, and then to read again. Bannatyne’s themes are universal and her storytelling completely original. Pick up this book as you would a shining stone on the beach. Carry it with you and don’t let it go.”
—Lynn C. Miller, The Day After Death and The Unmasking

“Bannatyne is a trickster, infusing these tales with a loving, light-footed humor, casting a fiction-magic spell that dissolves the ground as you read, to reveal a world at once wilder, more wounded, and more true.”
—Sammy Greenspan, publisher, Kattywompus Press; author, Skin Hunger

“The 14 luminous tales in Lesley Bannatyne’s poignant and perfectly titled new collection of short stories, Unaccustomed to Grace, all serve to map the winding routes traveled by the hurt and the heartbroken as they struggle toward hope and solace. Seldom has this lonesome terrain been depicted more thoroughly, more compassionately, or more lyrically than Bannatyne has done it in this wonderful, wise, and ultimately uplifting book.”
—Paul Guernsey, American Ghost, Editor of the "21st Century Ghost Stories" anthology series

Net Galley, Goodreads Give-away, Social Media blasts, Release celebration / Reading at a Boston-area brewpub in March followed by a small New England book tour.