The Prayer Box

Journeys begin with one single step, as Tandi Reese discovers in Wingate’s masterful exploration of the road to redemption. Tandi is a single mother of two children with a checkered history. Flight from her adult past leads her to North Carolina’s Hatteras Island, a place where she’d found comfort during her tumultuous childhood, to a cottage owned by Iola Anne Poole, an older resident and sometime town pariah. When Iola dies, Tandi is charged with clearing the older woman’s large house—and in doing so comes across spiritual treasures beyond compare. At times both sweet and sad, soul-warming and heartbreaking, the accessible writing style and attention to detail serve to enrobe readers in the love poured into weaving together the lives of Iola and Tandi in a meaningful, rich way. Relatable characters and vivid portrayals of events both current and historical create an enchanting, memorable pilgrimage into the fullness of faith and love. Agent: Claudia Cross, Folio Literary Management. (Sept.)