Grazia - Paperback

by Patricia Frankie-Deverell (Author)

In early 20th-century Toronto, thirteen-year-old Grazia Carbone is pushed into marriage and motherhood long before she is ready. Living in the crowded Italian Colony and working long days in a hotel laundry, she shoulders the weight of a household while quietly mourning the childhood she never had. Intelligent and restless, Grazia yearns for a life that feels like her own.

When a city fire brings a newcomer into her orbit, Grazia encounters, for the first time, someone who truly sees her. Their unexpected connection awakens hopes she never allowed herself to imagine, even as it threatens the fragile balance she must maintain at home.

Meanwhile, the city is gripped by the strange Millar Will, a wealthy man's posthumous challenge that turns childbirth into competition. For families in poverty, it is both a lifeline and a cruel spectacle-one that draws Grazia deeper into difficult choices about security, loyalty, and her own future. As prejudice intensifies and political upheaval abroad filters into her community, Grazia must navigate the blurred lines between survival and selfhood.

Inspired by true events in Toronto's history, Grazia is a richly drawn portrait of a young woman carving out meaning and agency in a world determined to contain her, and discovering the quiet power of wanting more.