Through well-developed characters, Inclán offers compassionate, intricate and deep insight into women's introspective look at marriage, sex, motherhood, intellectual and spiritual fulfillment, friendship and one's own childhood -- an extensive list of issues, but all she covers well.

The Matter of Grace focuses on the gift of friendship four women share, a friendship that started simply as mothers talking daily by the community poolside while their children swam. The bond these women develop through friendship -- unconditional love and support they don't feel elsewhere, even in marriage -- is revealed and then challenged in a story centered around Grace's new struggle with cancer.

The plot thickens with the mystery and depth of Grace's sickness. We learn about the fragility of a person who can't feel love and accepted because she can't love herself. And we are forced to consider how one's childhood family life and mother relationship affect her self-image, decision making, and abilities throughout life, even in abilities to mother her own child. As Grace's friends try to help her through illness they are forced to examine their own lives.

Published by New American Library (NAL), a division of Penguin Putnam Inc., The Matter of Grace has been named a NAL Accent novel -- a label awarded to new women's literature focused on "subjects close to a woman's heart, from friendship to family to finding our place in the world." NAL Accent novels include, at the close of each story, interviews with the author on what she hoped to convey through her writing and conversation guides intended to enrich the reading experience as well as encourage women to discuss issues together.—© Kim Beury, AWARE e-news from San Francisco, CA