The First Phone Call from Heaven

One autumn day, the phones in Coldwater, Michigan, begin ringing. The people calling are all departed loved ones. They say they are calling from heaven. On that same day, Sully Harding is released from prison for a crime he may not have committed. During his incarceration, his wife passed away. He returns to Coldwater a brokenhearted man, hoping to quietly rebuild his life with his young son. Instead, he finds his hometown gripped by miracle fever. As the mysterious phone calls increase, outsiders flock from around the world in hopes of sharing the blessing. When his son begins to carry a toy phone awaiting a call from his mother, Sully has had enough. He sets out to prove that the Coldwater phenomenon is a hoax. But is it? Or could this be the world's greatest miracle? A heart-stopping mystery and a meditation on the power of connecting with a loved one you cannot see, this is Mitch Albom's most thrilling and magical novel yet.

Mitch Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold forty-two million copies in forty-eight languages worldwide. He has written eight number-one New York Times bestsellers—including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time—award-winning television films, stage plays, screenplays, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and a musical. Through his work at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame and is the recipient of the 2010 Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. He founded the nonprofit SAY Detroit, which provides pathways to success for Detroiters in need through major health, housing and education initiatives. He also founded a dessert shop and a gourmet popcorn line to help fund it. Albom operates Have Faith Haiti, a home and school for impoverished children and orphans in Port-au-Prince, which he visits monthly. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan.