Point Clear: A Novel - Softcover

Paddock, Jennifer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743287827 ISBN 13: 9780743287821

Publisher: Touchstone, 2006

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Jennifer Paddock is the author of A Secret Word. She lives in Point Clear, Alabama.

Reviews

Paddock follows up her well-received debut, A Secret Word, with a subtle novel about an introspective young woman's search for selfhood. In elegiac prose, Paddock follows 27-year-old Caroline Berry, an Oklahoma transplant eking out a living in New York City who's had a case of writer's block since she dropped out of the NYU writing program. After inheriting some money from her grandfather, she heads to a family retreat in Point Clear, Ala., where she hopes to find solid footing and begin a novel. Instead she arrives just in time for Hurricane Ivan. Walking along the beach in the hurricane's aftermath, Caroline meets a young man, Walker, who later goes missing. This event engages both her heart and her imagination and gives the remainder of the novel a focus, as Caroline makes it her mission to write Walker's story, several versions of which are included. Though some readers may wish for a conflict of some sort—virtually everyone Caroline encounters wants nothing more than to assist her—Caroline's evolution as a writer makes for a warm tale. (Aug.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743287827
• ISBN 13: 9780743287821
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240