Inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this funny, fantastical tale imagines modern-day versions of the yearning Tin Woodman and the lost Dorothy finding in each other the heart and the home they’ve been searching for.

GABE:

I’m known as the “Tin Player of Texas Hold’em.” My playing style is cool and no-nonsense—robotic. But the real reason for the hard exterior? To keep a secret straight from the pages of a comic book: my x-ray vision.

I used my impossible eyes to win last year’s poker championship, hoping to fill the hollow ache in my chest left by the unknowns in my life. I was abandoned at a church as a baby, and while I was raised by two loving fathers, my special eyes compounded the curiosity I had about my origins.

Then a beautiful reporter with tarot cards and clairvoyance offers me a chance to find answers. We have a lot in common—able to see the world in unique ways and at a crossroads in life—and my chest doesn’t feel so hollow anymore.

GAIL:

Grief has left me lost and lonely, my Koreatown apartment no longer a home after the death of my mother. Needing purpose to deal with the pain, my tarot cards lead me to the handsome poker player who sees me in ways I’ve been too scared to allow.

On our way to Las Vegas for this year’s poker tournament and accompanied by my little dog, Gabe and I follow a golden road of discovery to investigate the mystery of individuals like us—and I don’t feel so lost and alone anymore.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz references
He has x-ray vision / She’s clairvoyant
He falls first and harder
Road trip in an RV (with one small bed)
Vegas, baby!
A funny, fantastical tale

Gloria Holt

Audiolibros