Raising her two sons as a single mother in Washington, D. C.

, author Eliza Richards struggles to find a way to support her family and give her boys the best life she can. But as they mature, both sons—quite separately from each other—become addicts.

The eldest enters recovery in Minnesota, and eventually establishes his own highly successful addiction-recovery services. Her younger son—bright, brimming with life and remarkably charismatic—nonetheless falls into addiction, too, but he cannot escape its hold well into middle age.

Despite her son's repeated relapses and apparent determination to destroy his life, his mother never gives up on him—despite often being encouraged to do so. He lives on a chaotic, treacherous, and sometimes tragic knife edge until, somehow, he becomes determined to change.

Threads of Grace is a prodigal-son story like no other, the tale of a mother's unbreakable bond with an exasperating son whom she loves deeply. It's a story of heartbreak and faith, desperation and, just possibly, redemption.

The author is a retired financial advisor in Washington, and this is her first book. It's one that will make you despair, then profoundly remind you that each of us can always choose hope.

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