How far would you go to recover long-lost family heirlooms, if you knew the quest to do so could cost you your relationships or your safety?
Local author David Bohr’s second novel The Jewelry of Grace, released in November 2020, explores this question through the heart-wrenching story of a father who, after cutting five unique jewels for his precious daughter Grace, is forced to sell the jewels after being plagued by poverty. The gems were intended to be a present for Grace on her future wedding day. Years later, after her father is dead and she is wed to Adam, Grace and her new husband decide to scour Pennsylvania in the hope of finding the jewels that her father cut specially for her.
Whereas Bohr’s first book, The Pride of Central, delighted fans of sports novels, The Jewelry of Grace reaches fans of a different genre (though it does feature a few scenes of golf). “I had the idea for a romance between two newlyweds for a few years, because I felt that fiction often ignores this portion of a romance,” Bohr said, in an email to LebTown. “Most stories end the romance with the wedding. I wanted to start where many of those other romances stopped.”
Read More: Review: David Bohr’s “The Pride of Central” works even without background knowledge
Though Bohr knew he wanted his next novel to focus on a newlywed couple, he didn’t have any other events formulated in their lives until late 2019, when inspiration struck. “I decided that they could be searching for family heirlooms,” he said. Thus, the quest in The Jewelry of Grace was born.
Some of the locations in The Jewelry of Grace will be familiar to local readers. Many of the scenes take place at the Quittie Nature Park, and other scenes occur in Palmyra. Pinchot Park in York County is also featured.
Like The Pride of Central, The Jewelry of Grace is an allegorical story. It can be enjoyed as a straightforward story, but its plot and purpose are symbolic of Biblical concepts and stories. “Ultimately,” Bohr said. “The Jewelry of Grace is about grace –not the character, but the concept of unmerited forgiveness. Whether the reader is in a position to give or receive this grace, that is what I want the main message of the book to be.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bohr does not currently have book signings lined up, though he does have Facebook Live events that will take place on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. on his personal page and Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. on The Jewelry of Grace’s page. His expectation is that these virtual events will be a time for Q&A.
To purchase a copy of The Jewelry of Grace, visit Amazon.
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