Coming Soon: Scraps of Grace

A single father grapples with the loss of self-identity in the wake of trauma, and unwittingly thirsts for spiritual connection. Often irreverent, Scraps of Grace resides in the conflicted present moment but abides in the eternal. 

“Fascinating and recommended.” - Tom Morrisey, bestselling novelist and author of The Art of the Tale

“Entertaining and inspiring, Scraps of Grace captures a turbulent moment in time, while exploring timeless questions of faith.” - Chuck Snearly, author of The Guardian of Detritus and Far Out Man

 “Scraps of Grace more than delivers.” - Indie Reader

“A poignant tribute to the complexity of life. What a beautiful story, so artfully written.”- Amy Drake, Director - Patient Client Service, Waterleaf Women’s Center, Aurora, IL

The loss in 26-year-old Tyler Manion’s life has become overwhelming. The sudden death of his wife six months ago shocked him to the core. Tomorrow will be his last day at work, terminated from his corporate role at General Motors. Raising his not-quite-two-year-old son alone, he puts up a brave front, pretending to still have it all together. 

But Tyler has trouble focusing, and his spiritual attention deficit disorder is keeping him from any meaningful connection with the one who could help him most in his hour of need. A high school girl basketball phenom, a gruff World War II veteran, a hippie nun and a beguilingly brainy graduate student will each help him rediscover his sense of identity, and perhaps find his spiritual bearings. 

Scraps of Grace opens in Michigan in the summer of 1990, a time of turmoil and of hopefulness.  

Jon Harmon is the father of five sons and a devoted husband. He is a semi-retired corporate communications executive who has led communications as vice president at two global companies. He began his career at Ford Motor Company, where he worked for 22 years, including in several senior roles. 

Harmon is the author of the acclaimed business book Feeding Frenzy, a narrative interspersed with lessons learned in crisis communications.  Scraps of Grace is his first novel. A sequel is in the works.

An inspiring spiritual journey driven by relatable characters facing real-life struggles. Scraps of Grace captures a turbulent moment in time while exploring timeless questions of faith.

   -  Chuck Snearly, author of The Guardian of Detritus and Far Out Man

Jon Harmon creates a young, single-father character hoisted by his own petard, explores how conviction can enable us to navigate escalating life issues, and sets it all against the sports-mad world of recent yesteryear Detroit. Fascinating and recommended.

   -  Tom Morrisey, bestselling novelist and author of The Art of the Tale

In a time when pro-life values are often overlooked in mainstream entertainment, Scraps of Grace emerges as a poignant tribute to the complexity of life. What a beautiful story, so artfully written. We follow the main character’s spiritual journey as his path converges with others to reveal the strength that comes from embracing his deep but nearly forgotten convictions.

   -  Amy Drake, Director - Patient Client Service, Waterleaf Women’s Center, Aurora, IL

The author leads us masterfully on a true-to-life journey of ordinary people experiencing the challenges of everyday life. Hidden within is the important reminder that God is present through life's struggles; that His grace is being poured into us, especially through those around us, and often by people from whom we may least expect it. Scraps of Grace beautifully reminds us of what we already know in our hearts—we are made for communion with one another; we are a Eucharistic people.

   -  Deacon Matthew Napoli, Diocese of Joliet

A heart-warming, relatable story of an average guy trying to recover from the storms of life. Through unlikely friendships, love, faith and grace, Tyler shows us what it's like to walk through Romans 5:3-4 (NCB), where: “… suffering develops perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.” This is a story to inspire those who are afraid to get out of the rocky boat of life, to step out onto the water with faith in Jesus.

   - Gregory McDonald, Founder, Men As Christ 

Indie Reader, October 2024

Title: SCRAPS OF GRACE

Author: Jon F. Harmon

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: 4.3 stars (out of 5)

In 1990 Detroit, a young widower struggles to feel love and grace in a year marked by hardship and grief.

Tyler’s wife has only been dead for a few months when he also loses his job at GM, one of countless casualties from Detroit’s collapsed auto industry. Now a widower, his son Robbie not yet two, Tyler grasps for a lifeline as his relationships with women, other men, and his own sense of self all come under scrutiny and pressure. Support comes—sometimes unwanted or uninvited—from unexpected places.

Jon F. Harmon’s SCRAPS OF GRACE takes its cues from writers like Andre Dubus, casting an honest but compassionate eye on often-unlikable men who know they are, by many measures, failures, but who nevertheless struggle to improve for the sake of their loved ones—even if they don’t quite know how. Tyler is very effectively introduced leering over his teen babysitter, and his stereotypically masculine interior life inhabits a cul-de-sac of women, cars, and sports. However, SCRAPS OF GRACE steadily pulls Tyler into the path of more emotionally intelligent people (women and people of color, in particular), who are able to help him contextualize and process both his grief for his dead wife and his fears about his own failings.

This is a deeply conventional narrative—a cast of characters undertakes the emotional labor of improving a mediocre white man—but its thoughtfully chosen historical setting, convictions, and evident love for people succeed at both intriguing and moving the reader. Structurally, the text gains a great deal from its 1990 Detroit setting: characters converse about the failings of communism in the USSR, for instance, while simultaneously experiencing the failings of capitalism in the USA. Tyler only knows a daunting, conservative model of masculinity in which his capitalist production is the root of all self-worth (finding a job after a period of unemployment is equated with “being someone again”).

SCRAPS OF GRACE ultimately takes an ambivalent stance on these issues; typical conservative American values are effectively re-inscribed by the end, rather than interrogated or rejected—but the text also makes no secret of the soul-crushing weight inherent in trying to force a human being into such strictures. This last, however, ties insightfully back to the core theme of grace. Tyler is largely afflicted by things out of his control (the death of his wife, the death of the auto industry, a random car accident), and this lack of agency can be frustrating for a reader. But grace itself is inherently unearned, like all of the good that comes Tyler’s way—framing him like a modern-day Job.

Tackling some weighty issues, SCRAPS OF GRACE also benefits from a fluid prose style punctuated with moments of clarity and beauty. Tyler’s car-obsessed brain deploys some arresting (and laugh-out-loud funny) descriptive language, as when a Chevy Caprice Classic is painted as “an ugly whale abortion of a car.” At times, the description borders on synesthetic, like when Tyler steps onto a factory floor with its “familiar blast of hot noise.” But the key is a fine ear for rhythm and the sonic qualities of words, elevating even straightforward thoughts like, “Her green eyes glow intensely now. It’s not just the light; there’s a confidence behind them he’s never seen in her.” The novel is worth reading for these nuggets of particularly excellent prose. For readers who enjoy a conventional narrative done very well, SCRAPS OF GRACE more than delivers.

Indie Reader Verdict: A detailed period piece set in a crucial moment in modern American history, Jon F. Harmon’s SCRAPS OF GRACE compassionately and movingly portrays an average American man struggling with the failures of contemporary models of masculinity.