Caroline Berry is lost at twenty-seven, living in New York -- not as the writer she once hoped to be but as an assistant at two part-time jobs. In an attempt to figure out a next step, she heads for Point Clear, Alabama, to spend several weeks relaxing at an old southern hotel on Mobile Bay -- unaware that it will soon lie in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan.
Ignoring evacuation orders, Caroline hides out in the hotel and braves the storm alone. The next morning, she meets a mysterious man on the beach as he enters the churning water for a swim. He is Walker Galloway, a champion swimmer, which she discovers after learning of his disappearance in the newspaper. Realizing she is the last to have seen him, Caroline becomes entangled with his family and friends, and as she is gradually drawn in to Walker's world, she finds, at last, the story she was meant to tell.
Point Clear is a compelling tale of one woman's quest for self -- who finds it only when searching for another.
"A luminous celebration . . . filled with mystery, suspense, and beauty."
Michelle Richmond, author of Dream of the Blue Room
"A subtle novel about an introspective young woman's search for selfhood. . . . A warm tale."
Publishers Weekly
"In remarkably elegant and evocative prose, Jennifer Paddock reveals that it's not only the big moments that can change a life, but the deceptively quiet ones, like the eye of the hurricane her heroine passes through."
