Deborah Howell

As a Matter of Fate Deborah Howell Lrg edition

The novel As a Matter of Fate follows the narrator Deirdre Grady through a childhood of protected innocence where she is taught to believe in a world ruled by absolutes. Her happiness is built upon the certainty that all things happen for a reason and that everything in life serves a distinct purpose. Deirdre?s childhood is filled with the melody of her grandmother?s crooning wisdom and the teasing laughter of a cow-licked blonde haired boy named Caleb. As Deirdre matures and her feelings for Caleb evolve into adolescent love, she relies on her naïve interpretation of fate to conjure a future where she and Caleb are destined to be together, regardless of the fact that he chooses to leave Deirdre and the small town of Aviemore, Georgia behind him after high school. When Deirdre suddenly loses everything that provided the security of her youth, she finds herself lost in a world that has become foreign and unkind. It is in this world that she forms an unlikely friendship with Julia Alliston, the beautiful, self absorbed daughter of one of the wealthier more distinguished families in town. These two characters are seemingly polar opposites who share a relationship that often crosses into a realm of darkness in which they can only grope their way out with the help of each other. They ride a roller coaster of extremes where loyalty is balanced by fierce bouts of jealousy, and love is held in check by a stronger ability to hate. Ultimately it is betrayal that brings the novel and its complex characters to a point of crisis. In the resolution of this crisis, all innocence is stripped away to reveal the bud of an ugly truth: within the deepest part of every person lies a darkness that allows them to be capable of doing anything.