Grieve with me. Patricia Gaffney is going mainstream. Make no mistake – The Saving Graces is emphatically not a romance. Don’t let that stop you, though, because Gaffney’s written a beautiful story of four women and the friendship that sustains them through trials, tears, and laughter.

These women, living in the Washington, D.C. area, comprise a women’s club. They call themselves the Saving Graces, and the group’s been a fixture in their lives for over ten years. When the story opens, each of the four women faces a turning point in her life. Lee, the polished princess, is beginning to suspect she and her husband might be infertile, while insecure Rudy blames herself for the fact that her marriage to a control freak seems headed for rough waters. Emma, the only one in the group who’s never married, finds herself dangerously attracted to a married man, and Isabel, the oldest member and spiritual center of the group, is coming off a two-year battle with breast cancer.

A series of crises puts their friendship to the test. Rudy’s husband grows ever more obnoxious and domineering. Lee becomes more and more desperate in her quest for a baby; her marriage suffers, and only her friends help her keep things in the most fragile perspective. Emma quits her job to pursue her dream of writing a novel, but finds herself distracted by the obsession that threatens to overwhelm her. And Isabel, divorced and falling in love with her neighbor, learns that life can hold some very cruel surprises.

The book is written in diary fashion; point of view alternates between the four main characters. Gaffney manages to give each of these women her own unique voice – no easy task. You learn about the characters not only through their words, but by how they speak, as well. Emma is a chronic smart aleck, and you can hear her trying to hide her pain behind a joke or witty remark. Rudy rationalizes her husband’s behavior so much that you learn, long before she does, what an insufferable jerk he is. Isabel’s quiet dignity shines across her silences and her refusal to wallow in self-pity.

This is intelligent women’s fiction. By that, I mean that the writing is clean, the story is engrossing, the characters are engaging. There’s no pandering to the reader, no tone of condescension. You meet the Saving Graces one by one, and soon it feels as if you’ve been a member of the group from the beginning. You understand and accept the tiny cracks that even the best friendships experience, and you’re relieved and happy when the women find a way to rise above the petty jealousies threatening their harmony. You come to recognize that they are indeed graces to each other – visible signs of love in a world that’s often anything but loving toward them.

Yes, I’m in mourning for romance, but I couldn’t be happier. If this book garners the readership it deserves – it should be a huge beach read this summer – I suspect Gaffney may be lost to the romance genre (say it ain’t so, Pat!). And yet, I rejoice – as I do whenever I come across a book as well written as this, with characters I feel I know and care about, who deal with situations so many of us have faced and do face. Let me be one of the first to say it: Welcome to the big time, Patricia Gaffney.