Content Warning: This section discusses the deaths of loved ones and grief and mentions alcohol abuse.

Grace is the main character and first-person narrator of the novel. In the narrative present, she is 72 years old. She is a retired mathematics teacher who lives in Lincolnshire, England. Four years before the novel’s start, her husband, Karl, died. Thirty years prior, she and Karl’s son, Daniel, also died when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike. These tragedies color Grace’s perspective. She is not only grieving her son and husband but also overwhelmed by guilt, shame, and loneliness. She is trapped in a protracted state of numbness and feels incapable of engaging with life, maintaining her hobbies, or pursuing new relationships. Everything changes for Grace when her former colleague, Christina van der Berg, leaves her house in Ibiza, Spain to her.

Grace’s decision to travel to Ibiza catalyzes The Journey From Grief to Healing and The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Happiness. Grace’s first-person narration proves that she is an intellectual, reflective individual with a sharp wit and a keen eye for detail.