Novelist Ponders Whether Seemingly Insignificant Choices Might Reveal a Greater Plan

Number 1 Amazon.com bestselling author Abby Rosser is celebrating the re-release of her debut novel, Oh, to Grace, which is available at retail on  Wednesday, May 26, 2021, in hardback, trade paperback, and all major ebook formats from WordCrafts Press. The novel, which originally released to glowing reviews in the spring of 2013, went out of print when its publisher closed its doors at the end of 2014.

In early 2018, Abby released her middle grade fiction novel, Believe, Volume 1 in The Adventures of Dooley Creed series, on the WordCrafts Press imprint. That title rocketed to the Number 1 position on Amazon.com’s Hot New Releases chart in the Children’s Myth Books category, and was soon followed by two additional titles in the popular Dooley Creed series, including Hope and Remember.

A marked departure from the middle grade whimsy and fantasy of her Dooley Creed series, Oh, to Grace was written for adult audiences. A family drama set in the raucous underbelly of Prohibition-era Chicago and the fictional small town of Morgan’s Hat, Tennessee, Oh, to Grace follows protagonist Anna through a series of traumatic misfortunes and providential flukes, until she at last marries into the Watson family. Though her new family provides the support and stability she so desperately craves, Anna must still to learn to trust the offered gift of grace.

“Eight years ago my first novel was published,” Abby muses. “It was a labor of love, and like most first babies, it took me a while to figure out what I was doing! I’m thrilled that my current publisher, Wordcrafts Press, agreed to re-publish Oh, to Grace, and I’m equally thrilled to announce that it will soon be followed by a new book, a sequel of sorts, called Weary, Come Home. I love these books, and these characters have become some of my favorite people (even if they do only exist in my head). Both books are written for adults and set in bygone eras in a little, Southern town. With all my heart, I hope you’ll like them, too.”

“When Abby pitched the idea of re-publishing her original novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” says WordCrafts Press publisher Mike Parker. “We loved the Dooley Creed series, but writing for middle graders is a completely different world from writing for adults, and not every author makes that leap successfully. After reading Oh, to Grace, all I can say is, wow! Abby Rosser is a storyteller in the very best sense of the word.”

Abby’s fans appear to agree as the paperback version of the novel has already climbed into Amazon.com’s Top 20 Hot New Releases chart in the online retailer’s American Historical Romance and Religious Historical Fiction categories, and debuted at #23 on the Hot New Releases in the Religious Romance category. The ebook is also generating excitement with fans, landing on the Top 100 Hot New Releases on Amazon’s Historical Christian Romance Fiction, Christian Historical Fiction, and Religious Historical Fiction charts.

From the novel:

Nobody in town could re-sole shoes like my daddy. Many a time I remember him comin’ home late of an evenin’ on account of that sweaty pile of shoes and boots in the back of his shop.

Daddy always said that Nadine Henderson could make a pair of shoes last longer than what you’d think was humanly possible. She did wear a ladies’ 11 1/2 extra wide, so you could hardly blame her for keepin’ ’em a good while. Why, she had to drive clear down to Nashville to get them big shoes!

Anyhow, Daddy was workin’ at pryin’ up her cracked outsole when Little Jack came tearin’ in. He banged open the door so hard he knocked off the little brass bell that hung just above the header, and it skittered across the floor like it were scared, too. I jumped off the barrel where I was sittin’ and pullin’ tacks off some old work boots. I scattered them bent tacks all over the shop, he scared me so. Daddy hollered at him and told him to speak up, but Little Jack could only stand and breathe hard.

I still remember his big white eyes and his ribs pokin’ out the sides of his overalls. We was stuck to the floor, waitin’ for him to talk, and then the words he spoke were like a bucket of ice water in my face. He said, “Mister Frank…he dead…yor boy…is dead.”

About the Author

Abby Rosser makes her home in Middle Tennessee with her husband and four kids. When she’s not writing, Abby enjoys reading, watching movies, baking (and eating) desserts and being outside…but not all at the same time. And she loves imagining stories (often when’s she’s doing most of the above).

Visit her online at: abbyrosser.com