Grace and grit

Khristeena Lute has lived all over the United States. She grew up along the Ohio River in the Appalachian region of Southeastern Ohio, taught grade school in Arizona, earned a Ph.D. in Tennessee, and is now an associate professor of English and director of the Center for Reading and Writing at SUNY Adirondack.

But there’s one place that's embedded in Khristeena's soul. “I was always drawn to New Orleans. I think there are places in the world where it feels like it’s a magnet, just pulling you to them. There’s a pull toward New Orleans for me.” 

She channeled her love for the southern city, her passion for literature and her own experiences navigating academia into her debut novel, “Finding Grace and Grit," which was published in 2021. It tells the stories of two women living centuries apart. Meredith is a new doctoral candidate who struggles to learn the ropes of academia as she writes her dissertation on Grace King, a New Orleans author. Meanwhile, in her own time, Grace survives the Civil War and grows into a strong writer — until her own family’s darkness threatens to destroy her sense of self and identity.

The book is part historical fiction and part fictionalized account of what Khristeena and other women in academia have been through. 

“‘Finding Grace and Grit’ is the book that I needed to have when I was in graduate school. I could have understood that I’m not the only one this stuff is happening to or that other people also find this as stressful and heinous as I do," she shared. "This is the book that I needed in my early 30s.”

And for the Grace King portion of the novel, Khristeena focused heavily on historical accuracy. She performed "copious amounts of inordinately meticulous research," she laughed, describing her process of combing through King's memoirs and letters, comparing the contents with her biography. "Anytime there is a mention in the Grace King chapters of a dress that she's wearing or food that she's eating, it's because she mentioned it herself."