A Small Gem
July 20, 2026A small gem. Grace Notes takes the reader on a journey to find home and God–same thing. The novel’s smooth prose carries us through scenes that are snapshots of a life that strung together tell a story of struggle, heartbreak, and quiet joy. Grace indeed.
Spiritual Director, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
This is a brave book by an honest new author
July 20, 2026John Cheyenne Wilbur has written about a pilgrimage. It’s a spiritual quest by Jerry Cradleman who, from adolescence, knows something within is broken. His journey is by turns painful ,bewildering and sometimes humiliating, but also touched occasionally by grace. There are those along the way who often help him grow by saving him from himself, and still others who almost destroy him. Like most pilgrims, it’s the very search that redeems hope. this is a brave book by an honest new author.
Business and Social Entrepreneur, San Francisco Bay Area
You Have a Special Book in Your Hands
July 21, 2026John Cheyenne Wilbur’s novel, Grace Notes, is a captivating ride into the many decisions young men and women face throughout high school, college and beyond, challenges that can’t help forming the later adult self. Those experiences in classes, out on the playfield, meeting and interacting with various personalities, achieving goals or not, winning and losing at sports are all described. Wilbur shows how one’s character is undetectably formed in the early years. His book explores those invisible threads as the protagonist, Jerry Cradleman, proceeds to try different roads toward some kind of career. The energy of the book leaps high when Cradleman enters Seminary and struggles with belief in God. When he faces the results of delivering unsatisfactory answers to a Rorschach inkblot test as well as true/false statements like “People have it in for me,” ” Sometimes my soul leaves my body,” and “I am possessed by evil spirits,” the novel suddenly becomes impossible to put down. Soon Cradleman delivers his first big sermon as a novice pastor–a “demand of reckoning”–and you’ll know you’ve got a special book in your hands. If you enjoy and appreciate being thoroughly immersed in a well-written account of new experiences and life-changing moments then this page-turner is of you.
Author, Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices; Filmmaker, American Orpheus, Emerald City, blues for the Avatar, et. al., New Mexico
Divine Grace Notes
July 21, 2026John Cheyenne Wilbur leads us through a difficult and, at times, deeply painful search for God. The story reminds us that there is healing and beauty to be found in spite of the damage done to us by others, whether by intention or unwittingly. And Wilbur’s story speaks to us of the divine grace notes by which we are blessed in this uncertain life.
Author, Retired Pastor, Maine
Grace Notes Takes the Reader on a Head-and-Heart-Spinning Search for Meaning
July 21, 2026As a late-20th century bildungsroman, the novel Grace Notes takes the reader on a head-and-heart-spinning search for meaning. Gifted yet emotionally disabled, Jerry Cradleman is raised in an affluent white New York suburb and educated at an elite liberal college and theological seminary. Beneath this privilege, talents and charisma, however, is a yawning emptiness he can’t seem to fill–and a dark dread that keeps rippling to the surface whenever he tries to find peace and happiness in a career or relationships with family, women, or even nature itself. Despite the gnawing chasm, Cradleman stumbles his way to success, nailing the job as pastor of a church in Northern California. When he melts down during a soul-baring sermon, however, the story takes a turn that people who lived during the 60s will recognize: from hippie communes to new age retreats, pot smoking to communing with the Earth Mother. A final journey to find God calls him to the Holy Land where he ultimately finds the God-given peace he’s searching for and his way home. All of which is told through a taut library style and a playwright’s sense of scene that keeps the reader on edge.
Spiritual Advisor, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Dominic's Conference, California
Grace Notes is a deep search for meaning, purpose and value
July 23, 2026Grace Notes is a deep search for meaning, purpose and value. Jerry Cradleman’s youthful journey takes him through an eclectic mix of sports, music, college, seminary, visualization, meditation, pilgrimage, and vision quests. Part of Jerry wants to step “off society’s conveyor belt,” but part of him wants to be just normal. Believing he has a right to be heard–as do “grace notes” in a musical score–Jerry unravels his own childhood memories that provide insight into why he is the way he is. One is left wondering how Jerry’s stunning new discernments will (or will not) change his life and bring the peace, faith, love, and happiness he has always sought.
Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Emeritus, Buena Vista University, Iowa
Grace Notes is a must-read for all who long for truth, understanding and faith
July 23, 2026Grace Notes is a provocative and emotionally engaging account of a life unfolding. Its descriptions of place and circumstance are rich and deep, drawing the reader into a storyline that is as honest as it is hopeful. It’s a must-read for all who long for truth, understanding, and faith in their own life’s path.
Acclaimed Architect, Seattle
Grace Notes is engaging, stimulating and surprising
July 23, 2026Grace Notes is engaging, stimulating, and surprising. Spanning a wide range of emotions, it is both heartbreaking and uplifting. Readers will be rewarded for accompanying Jerry Cradleman on his spiritual journey.
Knowledge Management Author, Speaker and Community Leader; Substack Author and Podcaster; House Concert Host, Michigan
Grace Notes is a fast highway paved with broken rocks
July 23, 2026Grace Notes is a fast highway paved with broken rocks all the way to Faith.
Lawyer, South Carolina
Grace Notes is a fearlessly honest, wonderfully relatable journey
August 5, 2026Grace Notes is a fearlessly honest, wonderfully relatable journey exploring the roads that faith leads us on, until, ultimately, we find our true home in grace.
Poet, Los Angeles
Great book! Very Courageous
August 5, 2026Grace Notes is a spiritual journey of a confused, abused and insecure man. Great Book! I was totally engaged from the first page. John Cheyenne Wilbur is a very talented writer, with a gifted command for dialogue and narrative pace. Very courageous. I look forward to his next book.
Former Managing Editor, Scottsdale Institute, Benicia, California
Grace Notes is a journey worth taking
August 5, 2026Grace Notes is a messy place, full of messy people. Jerry Cradleman is trying to solve the messy parts of education, romance, career, who he is and who God is. It’s a journey worth taking. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s pretty close.
Former Technology Instructor and Non-Profit Developer, Los Angeles
This is a tale of liberation through courage
August 5, 2026Grace Notes proves that coming of age is not limited to a particular age. In this coming-of-age story, “grace” shows up in the opportunity to address truths that have been buried but not forgotten by the psyche or the soul. This is a tale of liberation through courage.
Author of Hiraeth: The Voice of Home
An engaging read!
August 5, 2026It’s in the grace notes that life happens. Wilbur’s coming-of-age story and search for meaning is told in rich, engaging language, punctuated by the likes of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Pachelbel’s Canon, and improvisational music. A reliable narrator takes the reader through all the twists and turns of the protagonist’s journey, drawing the whole to a satisfying conclusion. An engaging read!
Author of No Way Out and All That This House Has to Offer