The Searchers - Softcover

SMITH, NAOMI GLADISH

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877853347 ISBN 13: 9780877853343

Publisher: Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, 2011

Synopsis

The third book in Naomi Gladish Smith’s acclaimed series about souls in the afterlife follows a new group of seekers on their journey to heaven—or hell.

Kate Douglas, who spent a lifetime on earth teaching young students, in death finds herself at the Academy, a school for new arrivals in the afterlife. Barely accustomed to her new existence, she’s confronted with the soul of her troubled nephew Dan, who took his own life. Dan struggles to find his path in this new world, encountering the innocent Birgit, who in life was an abused girl, and the beautiful Pegeen, who draws him into the dangerous territory bordering hell. But even as Kate teams up with her friend Frank and budding angel Percy to try to help Dan face his inner demons, Kate must deal with her own issues: her helplessness at watching her husband Howard, still on earth and dying of a degenerative disease; her attraction to Frank; and an assignment to guide a particularly difficult new arrival named Janet. Their fates intertwine as each searches within to discover whether they ultimately bound for heaven or hell.

Inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg’s descriptions of the afterlife, Smith paints a vivid picture of the world of spirits, a spiritual realm between heaven and hell where inner truths are revealed and the distance between any two people is no more than a thought.

About this title

From the Author

The Searchers, the last in my trilogy about the afterlife, ends several years of being immersed in writing about just what the spiritual world might be like.  It has been an exhilarating, joyful, and sometimes painful experience. 

As I've noted in the acknowledgements section of all these novels, the main ideas have come from the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the eighteenth century theologian and scientist.  I am, however, solely responsible for any errors I may have made in imagining how those ideas might play out in the world to come.

The response from readers has been heartening and astonishingly positive.  It seems most of us hope for an eternal life that will be useful and exciting, and that we will be joined in that life with those we love.

About the Author

Naomi Gladish Smith, a former teacher, is the author of The Arrivals (2004) and The Wanderers (2007), which are also Swedenborgian novels. She also wrote the mystery Buried Remembrance (1977) and numerous essays and short stories that have been published in the annual anthology Chrysalis Reader, The Christian Science Monitor, Interludes Magazine, and a Journal of the American Medical Association anthology. She is also a regular contributor to WBEZ, the National Public Radio station in Chicago, Illinois. She currently divides her time between Glenview, Illinois, and Lake Worth, Florida.

Edition details

• Publisher: Swedenborg Foundation Publishers
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0877853347
• ISBN 13: 9780877853343
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304