Andrea Chasen

Taking Miss Grady Home Andrea Chasen

Katherine Grady had everything going for her. Raised by a wealthy, cultured grandmother in a New England town, she was a brilliant pianist and a beautiful, vivacious young woman. As a promising student at New York City's Julliard School of Music, she relished the excitement of living in the country's greatest city, dancing at nightclubs, exploring Manhattan and enjoying her friends. On the eve of World War II, she even met a handsome, charming young man, a Southerner. Then the world shifted. After her boyfriend was shipped overseas to the front, Katherine discovered a terrible fact that altered her entire life. Many decades later, two strangers meet: Harry, a Long Island lawyer on the cusp of retirement, and Muriel, a determined, resourceful reporter at the small newspaper in the town where Katherine was raised. Harry, who wrote Katherine's Will decades before, now feels obliged to honor the almost impossible to fulfill wishes in Katherine's Will, but there are no relatives who can explain the mystery of Katherine's life. The reporter instinctively knows there's a good story here, and she can't bear unanswered questions: Why did this young woman move to a residential development on Long Island that was built for former GIs, and why did she die alone, without friends or family? Setting out to solve the mysteries of a long life, Harry and Muriel's quest leads them along unexpected paths. Based on a true account, this deeply compassionate story, full of humor, is actually a detective story, seeking to solve mysteries: How can a life of great promise suddenly change? How do our actions reverberate years afterward? What makes a life valuable and meaningful?