God Box, The

When Mary Lou Quinlan’s beloved mother, Mary Finlayson, dies, her family is bereft — until Mary Lou searches for her mother’s “God Box,” her private cache of notes to God on behalf of family, friends and strangers. To Mary Lou’s amazement, she finds not one but ten boxes stuffed with hundreds of tiny petitions that span the last twenty years of her mother’s life.

Note by note, Mary Lou unearths a treasure of her mother’s wishes and worries and insight. Mary asked God for everything from the right flooring for her daughter’s home to a cure for her own blood cancer. Her requests, penned on scraps of paper, were presented without expectation — the ultimate expression of letting go.

Follow Mary Lou’s emotional journey as she uncovers her mother’s innermost thoughts — nostalgic, surprising and even shocking. As she recalls life with the woman who was her best friend, Mary Lou discovers her own more empathetic, engaged self — the woman her mother had believed in all along.

Poignantly written and beautifully designed, The God Box is a gift for every mother, every daughter, every person who, regardless of beliefs, trusts in the permanence of love and the power of family.