The Prayer Box was originally published in 2013 but Tyndale House have reissued it. An excellent decision! It tells the story of Tandi Reese, a young mother fleeing with 9 year old T.J. and 14 year old Zoey from her abusive and criminal ex. They set up home in a rental cottage in the grounds of a grand historic house in the small town of Fairhope on Hatteras Island but when Tandi finds her 91 year old landlady dead in bed before the end of page 10, her life becomes more complicated than ever. (By the way, this is not a crime novel, so this death is peaceful and from natural causes!) Tasked with cleaning out Iola’s house, she finds 81 prayer boxes, one for each year. Within the boxes is the story of Iola’s life – her hopes, dreams and fears, and the secrets she had kept to her death, written on scraps of paper to ‘Father’ and signed ‘your loving daughter, Iola Anne’. It is soon clear that these letters are Iola’s prayers. As Tandi and her family bumpily become part of the Fairhope community, she discovers that love does not always come with conditions, and that family does not always look the way you expect it to.
Although set solidly in the present day, Iola’s letters go right back to her childhood. And the letters are absolutely beautifully written. There are books in which much of the joy is in the way the prose flows, and this book scores a double whammy: the story is wonderfully told and compelling, and the actual writing is lyrical, especially the letters. I loved the simple yet not always easy faith of Iola Anne’s letters, and I also loved the development of Tandi’s relationship with her children. The community is so well described that I could almost feel myself stepping into Sandy’s Seashell Shop. I can highly recommend spending a few hours in Fairhope.
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