The Prayer Box

A young woman, an old woman, and the story of a lifetimeWhen Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iolas rambling Victorian house. Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iolas walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, dating from Iolas youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paperthe hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything.