Caroline Berry is lost at twenty-seven, living in New York-not as the writer she once hoped to but as an assistant at two part-time, dead-end jobs. In an attempt to collect herself and figure out a next step, quits her jobs and heads for Point Clear , Alabama , to spend several weeks relaxing at a grand old Southern hotel on tranquil Mobile Bay-unaware that it will soon lie in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan.

Eluding evacuation orders, Caroline hides out in the hotel and braves the storm alone. When she emerges the next morning, she meets a mysterious on the beach who 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 in the following days. Realizing she is the last to have seen him, Caroline becomes entangled with his family and friends in helping to solve the mystery. And as she is gradually drawn into Walker 's world, she finds, at last, the story she was meant to tell.

A compelling tale of one woman's quest for self-who finds it only when searching for another-point Clear puts Jennifer Paddock on the map as one the South's most exciting new voices.

 

Jennifer Paddock's writing has appeared in The North American Review, Other Voices, and The South Carolina Review, as well as the anthology Stories from the Blue Moon Café. She lives in Pint Clear, Alabama , with her husband, the writer Sidney Thompson.