What Remains Is Grace

By Tina N. Shelton

In 1997, Grace Downing moves to the Chicago area for a teaching position, only to learn that the offer has been withdrawn. Rather than give up, she finds work on the South Side, where a childhood crush is among her new colleagues. The disrupted plan also draws her back toward people and places from her past.

Family friend Candi welcomes Grace while carrying grief over their elderly neighbor Nelda and uncertainty about caring for her estranged husband. When Grace's sister joins them, the three women begin investigating the life Nelda left partly unexplained.

Tina N. Shelton's novel follows their discoveries through questions of aging, caregiving, faith, and the roles women unexpectedly inherit. As Nelda's secrets come into view, each woman must reconsider her own history and what it means to offer or receive grace.