SOUL MATES FOR ETERNITY

A debut memoir about love and life after death.

Edmunds writes of how he prayed to God at age 13 to meet a girl to love for the rest of his life. Two years later, he met her, and his book is the story of their life together—and of his life after her death 55 years later. The author, apparently motivated by faith, his memories and his desire to convey the idea that the soul outlives the body, offers a love story full of genuine feeling. He writes of the time he spent with his wife, Marion, through high school and college, his Army deployment and beyond, and discusses falling in love, his faith in marriage, his son and grandchildren. The bulk of the book, however, addresses events that follow Marion’s untimely death of a blood disease. After a long illness, she died in his arms, and the author’s life was irrevocably changed by the loss; miraculously, however, he felt her spiritual presence around him the very next day. He writes that he believes Marion’s spirit helped push him in new directions; for example, he began to take up singing, which he had never done during her life. The comfort of Marion’s love, he says, also convinced him to tell his story to let others know that meeting one’s soul mate is possible—and that the love one shares with that person can survive beyond death. This book will bring comfort to the bereaved, or to those who nervously wonder about the afterlife. The author also wrote this memoir for his grandchildren, so they would know their grandparents’ love story; this personal quality stands out, but it may put off readers who prefer a more generalized treatment of such subjects. But for aficionados of pure and simple love stories, this book will likely be a treasure.

A comforting read for romantics of all kinds.