The Prayer Box

The novel opens with Tandi Jo Reese’s memory of a hurricane-damaged house in Rodanthe, which she associates with a single safe day spent with her grandfather.

The narrative shifts to the present day discovery. Tandi enters her landlady Iola Anne Pool’s neglected Victorian house to investigate a bad feeling. Her journey through the house is interspersed with thoughts about her children, 14-year-old Zoey and 9-year-old J.T., and her abusive ex-boyfriend whom she has fled, Trammel Clarke. Upstairs, in a small blue room, she discovers Iola’s body. When deputies arrive, they note that Iola had no known family. As they work, Tandi observes a shoe box on a writing desk near the body. After the officials leave, Tandi is overwhelmed with worry about her precarious finances and her likely eviction.

A week after Iola’s death, Tandi’s fear of eviction grows. She meets Paul Chastain, a local teacher mowing Iola’s lawn as a favor for the Fairhope Fellowship Church. Soon after, the church’s music minister, Brother Joe Guilbeau, confirms the church will inherit the property. Knowing Tandi’s difficult situation, he offers her a job cleaning out the cluttered house in exchange for rent, which she accepts.