Hatteras Island is a vacation destination on the Outer Banks off the North Carolina coast. For 33-year-old Tandi Jo Reese, however, it becomes a place of refuge and healing after she and her two children flee their Dallas home to hide from a destructive, dangerous past. The three are offered dwelling in a rental home on the property of 91-year-old Iola Anne Poole. When Iola dies, the pastor of the local church enlists Tandi to clean out Iola's dilapidated Victorian house.
While sorting through Iola's cluttered personal belongings, Tandi discovers 81 beautifully crafted boxes--prayer boxes--Iola kept over the course of her lifetime. These boxes are filled with scraps of paper: heartfelt, personal notes written to a Higher Power, in which Iola shared her hopes and fears in navigating the challenges and joys of her humble, solitary life. The depth and honesty of each message paints a surprisingly fuller portrait of Iola's remarkable life, and this empowers Tandi to begin her own journey of self-discovery, assessing the hardships and mistakes of her past. She comes to embrace the idea that "some of the best things in life come out of the worst."
As in Lisa Wingate's other Christian-themed novels (Tending Roses et al.), faith and wholesomeness infuse the narrative of The Prayer Box. A warm, small-town feel and a cast of well-developed characters and subplots round out this richly woven story about the power of providence, grace and redemption. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines