Tracy Ann Morrison is best known for her seven years as a staff writer for a company called Ketchum, where she specialized in financial articles. Her career there ended when she left to teach English at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In her first book, Walk in the Light, Tracy reveals the challenges of raising children while juggling work and family life. A Year of Grace was released in 2021, following a period of financial turmoil for Tracy. In this book, she reflects on her painful experiences as a single mother and shares how she found hope and strength in God.
Tracy Ann Morrison's writing style is casual and light, as if she were telling an intimate story. Her stories are entertaining, and sometimes deeply moving. This is because they are so honest, yet entertaining at the same time. The book is structured as a series of vignettes, each one following another storyline from the last.
The book contains some excellent cartoons, some of which are drawn in a uniquely humorous way. I especially liked the one where Tracy is sitting on a beach chair with a baby in her arms. The baby turns to stare at her, but then suddenly goes back under the water. You can almost feel the baby move under the water as it tries to get up. It's an imaginative sequence that makes you laugh every time.
Some of the incidents in the book were a little disturbing. Tracy Morrison repeatedly describes what she sees as being sexual abuse. Although she never mentions names or places, the description can be unsettling. And, as you will see if you read the book, sometimes even a simple conversation can be fraught with danger.
However, I would say that the book has its high points. The author does a good job painting the characters as real, natural people. There are humorous scenes, and occasionally even a few lessons that you might not otherwise learn. It's not a shocker, with all the sexual themes that are common in a book like this. But it's not over the top, either.
I also enjoyed learning about Tracy's background, which is basically as follows – her parents divorced when she was very young. Her step-sister was in jail for drug trafficking and killed herself in prison. Tracy, her sister and a few other friends got her to go to live with her mother, who was in an halfway house. She had a stable and loving family, though, that supported her enough to give her a book to read as a senior in high school. Her only major failing was not knowing how to read.
The characters in this book are all very real, and it was a pleasant surprise to follow them from beginning to end. Actually, there are probably more moving moments than the actual events. Tracy has an aunt who dies in a car crash, and she and her friends discover that her grave has stones on it. Her best friend commits suicide, and she realizes that she loves this man. They are saved from a dumpster that will cause problems later in the book, and Tracy saves the boys' friend who is being held prisoner in the warehouse.
The plot is not the greatest, but it isn't bad either. It's just a good read about a girl's life who happens to be in foster care. I gave up before the last few pages because I was so engrossed in the story. The main character, Tracy Ann, is the one who does most of the talking, but you get to see her family and friends reacting to her. I would recommend this book to people who like biographies and teen novels, but it may be too mature for some readers.
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