The Key to Wit's End

A fresh, funny encouraging story of lives being mended and love going right. Paul, a high pressure advertising exec. has alienated himself from almost every one he knows and worked himself to the edge of suicide. But he finds a chance to start over in an old dilapidated beach house, an energetic, petite and feisty employee and a cadre of misfits that have been transformed by her kindness.

Busy, hectic lives in any high-pressure job can get messed up. Paul Reynolds was one of them. Twenty-one years in the intense world of Madison Avenue left him a clinically depressed, overweight, obsessive-compulsive, recovering alcoholic. He was also lonely, but didn’t know it. On the recommendation of his psychiatrist, he sold his advertising business, moved to the island of Sanibel, Florida and bought an old run-down “fixer-upper” as a project to help him get his life back on track. In looking for someone to clean the place for him, Paul has a wonderful head on collision with Sue, the ‘patron saint’ of Sanibel. When Paul hires this miracle working, petite, maid-service owner, she injects laughter, confusion and longing into his life; a longing for something Paul has never had. A real relationship. In time Paul discovers that all the wacky characters that have come to work on his house had been ‘touched’ by the grace and kindness of ‘Saint Sue.’ Myrtle, the bangled real-estate gal that sold him the house, Franco the carpenter with the ‘hermit-crab-mobile’ truck; Tubby the plumber, who probably weighs as much as his two helpers; slinky and weasel combined; Pablo and Reymundo, Mexican illegals; even six year old Gracie, who calls her, ‘thu-thu,” all had reason to love Sue Moore. But, fear of commitment and previous sour relationships threaten to wreck the house, the restoration of Paul Reynolds and the slowly growing relationship between Paul and Sue. In the end it is the house at Witt’s End and the dreams that they both had for it that brings them together.

Cindy Castillo Cindy has been a mom, a Bible teacher, missionary and entrepreneur. Shortly after leaving college, Cindy spent five years in Scotland working with teenagers which gave her a love for different cultures. Upon returning to the US she started her own cleaning service business called “Maid to Order.” After almost twenty years of cleaning she had grown a thriving, well respected company with numerous employees. In 1997 she and Joe married and two years later hung up her mop. For thirteen years they have enjoyed speaking, traveling and doing everything together.