Addition

Patterns of the Heart

In Addition, Toni Jordan invites us into the meticulously ordered world of Vera Rowley, a gifted accountant whose life is a series of neat columns and balanced ledgers. Vera’s uncanny ability to detect the smallest discrepancy in numbers has earned her a reputation for precision—but comes at the cost of personal connection. When she is assigned to audit the books of a struggling community theater, she encounters Gabriel Hart, a charismatic stage manager who thrives on improvisation and whimsy. Their first meeting—over misplaced receipts and an offbeat rehearsal schedule—sets in motion a delicate dance between logic and creativity, revealing how the most profound sums are often those of the human heart.

Secrets in the Sum

As Vera delves into the theater’s finances, she uncovers more than missing funds: she discovers traces of old friendships fractured by ambition, and a hidden ledger of favors owed that reads like a map of unspoken debts. Gabriel, juggling malfunctioning spotlights and an eccentric troupe of actors, guards a painful past that he masks with self-deprecating humor. Through late-night conversations under the glow of stage lights and shared cups of bitter coffee, the pair begin to realize that addition is not merely about numbers aligning—it is about the way individual lives converge to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

Calculating Change

When a crisis threatens the theater’s opening night and Vera’s own carefully plotted life plan is upended, she must decide whether to cling to the comfort of certainty or embrace the unpredictable variables Gabriel introduces. Tensions mount as the final performance approaches: scripts are rewritten, budgets are slashed, and hearts are laid bare in the wings. Jordan’s warm, witty prose illuminates the arithmetic of human relationships, reminding us that balance sheets cannot capture the true value of compassion, trust, or the courage to take risks.

Author’s Description

Toni Jordan is an acclaimed Australian novelist celebrated for her sparkling dialogue, richly drawn characters, and the deft interweaving of humor with heartfelt insight. With a background in both literature and the visual arts, she crafts stories that explore the intersections of order and chaos, certainty and surprise, inviting readers to find magic in the ordinary sums of everyday life.