Written with the same exuberance, fast pace, sex and drugs that defined the 1970's told with the depth, humanity and maturity of a writer of-a-certain-age, The State of Grace is a page-turning thriller, set in exotic locations and engagingly intertwined with the story of a special friendship, of loss and of finding the courage to be who you are.

Errica Hawthorn is haunted by sightings of her long lost friend from University, Birdy Grace. The problem is, Errica's father told her Birdy was dead.

Errica's father, and the constraints of his diplomatic career, has defined most of Errica's life. When she was younger, Errica secretly emulated TV heroines who possessed the courage and self worth she lacked. Then Birdy Grace came into Errica's life, bringing with her a matchless friendship, high adventure and unexpected risk.

Side by side the past and present unfold, as Errica, now divorced, breaks free of self-imposed and family shackles to embark on a perilous quest to find Birdy Grace.

The journey quickly becomes a dangerous and emotionally challenging mystery, complicated and intensified by a sexual encounter with an exotic, much younger man and culminating in a way Errica never could have imagined.
About the Author: Born in Los Angeles, Carrie is the daughter of former schoolteachers. Every summer they piled into the family car and explored this vast and extraordinary country. On these long car rides, Carrie would gaze out the window at the ever-changing scenery and tell herself stories. When she was 9 and her sister was 11, Carrie's father and mother took sabbatical leave, purchased a Volkswagen van and the family toured around Europe for an entire year. Carrie's landscape and opportunity for storytelling expanded. When Carrie was 14, her father became an American diplomat and the family moved to Europe. Carrie attended school in Holland in a castle built in 1715 and lived in Germany where their apartment was situated along the banks of the Rhine river. Her canvass for narrative and dreaming deepened. She attended the University of California, getting a Bachelors degree in theatre arts and visited her parents in a variety of countries where her father was stationed with the State Department. Carrie moved to New York City in the edgy 1970's where she worked as an actress. This is when she first traveled to Morocco and fell in love with this colorfully exotic and always surprising country. She later moved to Tokyo where she taught English and then to Sydney, Australia where she met her beloved husband, Charles, a New Zealander, filmmaker and kindred storyteller. When they relocated to Japan, Carrie taught acting and continued teaching at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art when they returned to Sydney. Carrie's life came full circle when she returned to Los Angeles in 2006 where she now lives with her husband and two cats and has a Life Coaching business. Carrie has been telling stories all her life. The State of Grace, an adventurous memory, is the first time she's written one down.