The Invisible Husband of Frick Island

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island is a sweet story set in a village on a remote (and fictional) island in Chesapeake Bay. It has a unique, occasionally quirky feel, but ultimately it is a story about grief, second chances and community. When up-and-coming podcaster Anders arrives on the island, he begins to unearth a story he didn't expect - an entire island who act like a dead man is amidst them, alive and well. See, quirky!

After enjoying this author's previous work and being intrigued by this premise, I asked my public library to order copies. I was quickly pulled into the story and enjoyed the tight-knit feel of the island but found that the middle lagged quite a bit. Thankfully, Oakley adds bits of mystery as Anders tries to get to the bottom of what's really going on within this community and, more particularly, what happened to Tom the 'invisible' husband of local resident Piper. 

Along with Anders, readers learn about this ultra-teeny community that has shunned many modern conveniences to maintain their insular feel. Readers are introduced to a small group of secondary characters who add to the small-town feel, but I had hoped to get to know them better and felt that I missed an emotional connection to them.

This was a sweet contemporary fiction read that included a unique setting, some mystery, a tiny bit of romance and added depth with its focus on grief and the seriousness of climate change. While it didn't hit me in the feels like I expected, I eagerly look forward to more books by Colleen Oakley.

 

Other books by Colleen Oakley

You Were There Too

Close Enough to Touch

Before I Go

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Colleen Oakley

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Type and Source: Trade Paperback from public library

Publisher: Berkley

First Published: May 25, 2021

Opening Line: At first, when Piper scanned the docks and 

didn't see the familiar rickety white-pine-and-fir fisherman's 

trawler, she thought nothing of it.

Book Description from GoodReads: 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.