Synopsis

Sometimes all you need is one person to really see you.

Piper Parrish’s life on Frick Island—a tiny, remote town smack in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay—is nearly perfect. Well, aside from one pesky detail: Her darling husband, Tom, is dead. When Tom’s crab boat capsized and his body wasn’t recovered, Piper, rocked to the core, did a most peculiar thing: carried on as if her husband was not only still alive, but right there beside her, cooking him breakfast, walking him to the docks each morning, meeting him for their standard Friday night dinner date at the One-Eyed Crab. And what were the townspeople to do but go along with their beloved widowed Piper?

Anders Caldwell’s career is not going well. A young ambitious journalist, he’d rather hoped he’d be a national award-winning podcaster by now, rather than writing fluff pieces for a small town newspaper. But when he gets an assignment to travel to the remote Frick Island and cover their boring annual Cake Walk fundraiser, he stumbles upon a much more fascinating tale: an entire town pretending to see and interact with a man who does not actually exist. Determined it’s the career-making story he’s been needing for his podcast, Anders returns to the island to begin covert research and spend more time with the enigmatic Piper—but he has no idea out of all the lives he’s about to upend, it’s his that will change the most.

Review

This story filled me with hope, laughter, sorrow, and joy.

Piper loses her husband way too soon in their young marriage. I can’t even imagine the grief she felt learning to live without him. Then something odd happens, everyone acts as if Tom is there with her, hence the invisible husband. I loved how this small community rallied around Piper and tried to ease her grief in this way. While it wasn’t logical, they were doing what they thought was right at the time.

Anders has always wanted to be a journalist and his first job is with a smaller paper. You can imagine his disappointment expecting to work for a big name paper right off the bat. But everyone has to start at the bottom and work their way up. What he doesn’t expect is to find this small community on Frick Island and Piper. He is sent to this island to cover their annual cakewalk. It seems odd to have it on a Thursday, but as someone tells him, it has always been on a Thursday. Small communities find change harder than others. While on the island, Anders feels like he is thrown back in time with the lack of technology, a small community with large hearts, and a weird situation with Piper and her invisible husband.

Don’t take everything you think to be true at face value. There is the mystery of who sent an email to Anders that he was missing a bigger story? Is Piper insane or having a psychotic break? Is global warming and climate changes affecting the island and what do the citizens think about losing their island? Will Anders’ podcast become a success? How will he spin what he is experiencing on Frick Island that will capture everyone’s attention?

There are many parts that tickled my funny bone like the islanders thinking that Anders is a Mormon missionary because of what he is wearing that first day. Piper setting Anders up when giving him the island experience, and so many more.

There are some twists in the book that was unexpected and has the reader rethinking their original assumptions. One of these is actually kinda funny but you will have to read the book to discover the truth. There is also a situation where Anders has to face his own fears and past and come to terms with his own life.

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Colleen Oakley is the USA Today bestselling author of You Were There Too, Close Enough to Touch, and Before I Go. Her books have been named best books by People, Us Weekly, Library Journal and Real Simple, and have been long-listed for the Southern Book Prize. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, four kids, and the world’s biggest lapdog.

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