Currents of Grace

Eric MacAulay causes his closest friend to incur a spinal injury that strips her of her ability to walk and ends her Olympic bid. But Lacey Zada is more than his friend: she is the love of his life, although Eric has never found the courage to tell her. Now Eric has to find a way to make up for his life-altering mistake and chart a new course for both of their families.

Eric MacAulay is savoring a case of chilled beer in the sunshine after a long day of working on motorcycles. The phone rings. His life-long friend, Lacey Zada, is on her way to a track and field competition that will propel her into the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and she needs a ride from Eric. Lacey is also the love of his life, though he's never found the courage to tell her. With ten beers in his system, Eric picks her up in a borrowed truck and loses control in a busy freeway tunnel, causing Lacey to incur a spinal injury that strips her of her ability to walk and ends her Olympic bid. To find a way to make up for what he has done, Eric draws from his past; a colorful but rocky childhood in a remote river valley where he and Lacey share many adventures, including the drowning of Lacey's oldest brother, Ben. Ben's death, and the subsequent abandonment by their father, William, drives both Lacey and her brother Davey to rise above adversity and become a track star and a rock god, respectively. Eric must then hatch a plan to heal the past and chart a new course for both families in this compelling tale of hope, perseverance, and grace.

Ethan Smith is a West Coast author whose writing draws from his love of nature and the strength of the human spirit. He is the author of Building an Ark: 101 Solutions to Animal Suffering. Written with Guy Dauncey and a forward by Dr. Jane Goodall. Building an Ark won the 2008 Silver Nautilus Award for books that change the world. He is the author/editor of the anthology Softly On This Earth: Joining Those Who Are Healing Our Planet. Currents of Grace is his first novel.