Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
At 3:29 a.m. on May 22, a telephone rings in Orange Beach, Alabama. Breaking the sleepy silence inside the bedroom of New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews, a hastily whispered message heralds the news for which readers have waited seven years. The old man is back in town. Apparently, he is also in jail.
Jones is tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding his brief incarceration. When Andy arrives to bail him out, he finds another person sharing his room in the gray-bars hotel--twenty-seven-year-old Pamela Barton, who is recently divorced and has two master's degrees, more than a hundred thousand dollars in debt, and a massive hangover.
Andy is shocked to discover that his old friend has already opened an unusual business at The Wharf--the resort town's most high-profile shopping district. Jones' Five & Dime seems to always have exactly what visitors are looking for, including visitors such as Pamela, whose fate becomes entwined with that of the old man's.
During the course of the summer, other lost souls cross Jones's path and find just what they are seeking. Oliver Sutherland, a thirteen-year-old loner with flame-red hair and a dark secret he has kept about his father, who died when Oliver was nine. The local pastor, who becomes a frequent morning visitor to The Wharf. And Blair Houston Monroe, a grand dame of Ocean Beach high society, who lords herself over everything within reach except, of course, for Jones himself.
As the town looks forward to its annual Shrimp Festival, a late summer hurricane and a practical joke threaten to upend a tried-and-true tradition. Can Jones rescue the business year for the merchants of Orange Beach? And can he rescue the hearts and minds of each of these pilgrims from the stories they tell themselves?
Synopsis
From New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews comes the return of one of our favorite fictional characters: Jones, the noticer. A mysterious elderly man with white hair and endless wisdom who always appears to show up exactly when he's needed most.
At 3:29 a.m. on May 22, a telephone rings in Orange Beach, Alabama. Breaking the sleepy silence inside the bedroom of New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews, a hastily whispered message heralds the news that Andy has been waiting on for seven years: Jones is back in town. Apparently, however, he is also in jail.
The old man is tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding his brief incarceration. After arriving to bail him out, Andy is shocked to discover that his trusted friend has already opened an unusual business in one of the resort town's most high-profile shopping districts. Jones's Five & Dime seems to always have exactly what visitors are looking for, even as their fate steadily becomes entwined with Jones's.
As the town moves from spring to summer, a practical joker is becoming bolder and more inventive with every prank that is pulled. Could Jones be behind some of it? Why? And what will happen if he is? What's the truth about that four-hundred-pound table in his Five & Dime? What compels certain people to gather around it every morning? And why does it look as if every person Jones meets has a secret they will reveal only to him?
With rare insight, Andy and Jones take us on a journey that proves the importance of perspective, the power of connection, and the ability we all have to make the impossible come true.