The Faded Flower — Paul McCusker

Funny, the difference a few hours can make. At 4:30 P.M., Frank Reynolds still has a sense of accomplishment and control. By five o'clock, he's lost his job of twenty-two years. By six o'clock, he's learned of his father's Alzheimer's disease. An hour-and-a-half is all it has taken to turn Frank's world upside down, thrusting him and his family onto a path none of them could ever have expected.

The one certain thing now is change. For Frank, that means grappling with the painful implications of unemployment and his father's illness. For Pap, it means facing the heartbreaking realities of the affliction that is stealing his mind. For Frank's high-school-graduate son, it consists of finding his own path in life despite his father's disapproval. And for Frank's wife and daughter, it involves surprisingly pleasant discoveries as the family, moving to Frank's childhood town, creates a future amid the ghosts of Frank's past.

On the outskirts of Peabody stands an imposing old mansion known as The Faded Flower. For many, it is both a beginning and an end. For the Reynoldses, it is the place where God's grace will unfold, changing their understanding of what life is about--and for Frank, resurrecting faith, hope, and purpose in ways he's never dreamed.