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New book tells personal stories behind World Series win, Harvey survivors

Joe Holley, an author and columnist for the Houston Chronicle, wrote the book titled "Hurricane Season." It binds memories of the Astros' run and Harvey's devastation with emotion.

HOUSTON – A new book tells personal stories behind the Houston Astros historic World Series championship victory and its role helping Hurricane Harvey survivors heal.

Joe Holley, an author and columnist for the Houston Chronicle, wrote the book titled “Hurricane Season.” It binds memories of the Astros’ run and Harvey’s devastation with emotion.

“I can’t wait to read it,” said a man lined up to get a signed copy at Brazos Bookstore Tuesday evening.

Dozens, including famed lawyer Rusty Hardin and Astros’ fans in team colors purchased signed copies. All of them sounded anxious to reminisce.

“I knew (Holley) would capture the human side of (the Astros’ championship) and the connection of the city to the team,” Steve Nelson, who bought a book said.

Holley, perhaps, was more anxious to see the reactions from readers.

“It’s fun because people come with stories of their own that I didn’t know about when I was writing the book,” Holley said. “So maybe there’s another book coming.”

His 250-page book takes readers back to the World Series and relives each inning. It includes inside baseball pulled from people close to the team with nuggets of incite like the information the team used to score game seven’s winning run off pitcher Yu Darvish.

“Somewhere (they) had picked up the tell and they knew what was coming,” Holley told the crowd.

Weaved between stories about the Astros’ run are six chapters on Hurricane Harvey that document stories of suffering and survival. Jim Dean is happy his story is included. His home flooded during Harvey. However, an iconic photo in the Houston Chronicle showing him celebrating the Astros’ win inside a home stripped down to its wooden frame shows what the championship means to Houstonians.

“The World Series helped me get through a lot of that rough part,” Dean said. “(It) took my mind away from what we were dealing with and we’re able to just focus on something that was almost a fantasy.”

It is now reality printed in a way none buying the book wants to set down.

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