“An extraordinary love, defying the boundaries of time and space”
- Book: The Symphony Of Souls (A Novella)
- Location: Seattle, The Philippines
- Author: Geraldine Solon
Maybe not a book which would instantly grab my attention in a shop, as it may be located in the section of genres I don’t tend to peruse. However, the title and cover art are alluring and Geraldine Solon is a successful author, whose writing career I have tracked regularly since it first began, many years ago now. I may not have had the opportunity to read all of her books, however she writes wonderfully across multiple genres and I have immensely enjoyed even those stories which may not have necessarily hailed from my ‘go to’ shelves.
…
Jake and Veronica Palmer lose their only child to a brain tumour, a son named Gabriel, who is just three-years-old. They are understandably grief-stricken and heartbroken, with the funeral, rather than bringing them closer together, forcing them further and irreconcilably apart. Veronica, unable to deal with her grief and memories, refuses to go back to their home and lashing out at Jake, tells him that he can never have had such a close bond with Gabriel as she had as his mother, especially after everything she had had to go through to give birth to him successfully. With that, and unwilling to listen to how Jake might feel, or how he might be troubled by his own emotions, she leaves to go and stay with her father, Henry. Left alone with his grief, distraught and in the depths of despair, Jake can only think of returning to work as a possibly viable panacea, although the co-founder of their company and his best friend, Luke, knows that this is all too much, too soon.
Luke’s wife Jane, has a sister who is very much into all things spiritual and she has given Jane a ticket for a weekend at a retreat, which Jane now finds herself unable to use. Luke offers the ticket to a very sceptical Jake, who after much soul-searching decides to embrace the opportunity to try and find some peace, serenity and closure, with an open mind. Meeting the enigmatic spiritual guru, Niravara Devi, instantly calms Jake, although he is still wary when the realm of astral travel is introduced to him as a potential way to unlock his grief and discover a way to move forward with his life.
Determined to make the most of every opportunity which might eventually offer him some quietude and solace, Jake takes instruction from Niravara and finds himself transported to an exotic tropical island, where he can see and hear everything which is going on around him, although he is silent and invisible to the inhabitants. All that is, except one, a mysterious and beautiful woman named Bobbie Salazar, who seems to be on the same journey as himself. Jake takes the journey back to his little peace of paradise on a regular basis over the coming days and weeks, as he and Bobbi begin an astral relationship, the extraordinary power of which, which defies all the boundaries of the ‘real world’.
However, Jake must reluctantly return to his normal life each day, until he makes the drastic decision to try and combine his two worlds. Every action he now takes has consequences which are far-reaching and totally out of his control. Can he reconcile the decisions he takes, with a future he can move forwards into, or is he forever destined to wander the astral plane, a lost and damaged soul?
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This multi-layered novella, part spiritual, part fantasy, part love story, is poignant, evocative and beautifully nuanced. Geraldine has managed in just a few pages to produce a compulsive storyline which has an emotional beginning, a captivating midsection and an ending full of hope and promise, yet never feels too rushed or contrived.
Although the entire cast of characters were well developed in their individual roles, with Geraldine having complete confidence in the imagery of her narrative and dialogue to bring them to life and lift them from the pages, there were really only two primary characters who dominated a large percentage of the storyline, Jake and Bobbi. Both damaged goods, a complex jigsaw of human emotions, which made them authentic and compelling, whilst at the same time vulnerable, quite unreliable and not easy to identify or connect with.
As an avid ‘armchair traveller’, I was quite surprised to find myself relatively satisfied with my virtual journey on this occasion. This story was predominantly all about the characters, their relationships to one another and the events which have drawn them together, so location was never really going to be a dominating factor. I did however, glean that the primary location was Seattle USA. although there were scant references to that place. However, during Jake’s experiences on the astral plane, he spent much of his time on an island, which he later established was Boracay Island, a real location in the Philippines, a location which was much more comprehensively drawn, with author Geraldine Solon using the full palette of words at her disposal to describe the coast and surrounding vista, in a way which imbued a genuine sense of time and place, that I could almost step into.
Book clubs would find much to discuss with this book and I’m certain it might divide opinion enough to evoke some interesting conversations.
What makes reading such a lovely experience for me, is that with each new book, the individual stories take me on a unique journey of discovery, written by some amazing authors who have the ability to fire my imagination, stimulate my senses and stir my emotions. I can only recommend that read ‘The Symphony Of Souls’ for yourself and see where your journey leads you. I have some lovely memories of this story to treasure, thank you Geraldine!
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