Heaven’s Sweet Embrace by Sheri Kramer is a beautifully written novel about our journey as we wander through time and space learning through our experiences about wisdom, compassion and love.
In the Prologue the opening lines are:
“In a blink of an eye time can collapse and the curtain between lives blow open before settling back in place… Who are you? Where are you? Imagine your many selves in that moment all aware of you, as you are aware of them.”
The novel interweaves four different stories from different times periods and places. The main one is about Shin Seo in 13th century Korea who has bought his freedom from the ruling class and is about to enter a new life. After sharing a meal at a tavern with two companions, he goes with them into the forest and finds a cave that is already inhabited by a family of runaway slaves.
The second story is of Rivka and Hannah, a Jewish mother and daughter who are trying to escape from the Ukraine to join Rivka’s husband in America.
The third and shortest story is about Mongke who is twelve and wants to join the troops in battle, but first has to pass tests to see if he is ready.
The fourth story is about two Korean comfort women, Shin Ae and Jinju, who are freed after the Russians drive off the defeated Japanese in Manchuria at the end of World War 2.
In each story the main characters are at a transition point in their life and their stories are told with such vivid details and poetic language that the reader is drawn into their world. The scenes are often told as the character wakes up and remembers bits of dreams that weave into the other stories being told. Gradually we come to realize the characters are the same set of souls reincarnated in other lives.
Here is an example: “Mongke wakes with a disturbing memory of enemy soldiers in strange uniforms, defeated and strewn about. And then it is gone. The dream is replaced with the excitement of the coming day.” P. 71
The scenes are often peaceful such as walking through the woods, swimming in the lake, eating a simple meal, learning to read, or a mother taking care of her baby. But underneath is tension: fear that the run away slaves will get caught, or the Jewish woman and daughter won’t be able to escape the Ukraine, and or that the two comfort woman will be rejected by their family when they return to Korea.
The book begins and end in the middle of these four stories just as life doesn’t have an abrupt beginning and end. Yet each of the four stories ends on a hopeful note that the characters will be able to make a good life for themselves.
I highly recommend this book for people who like visionary fiction and are interested in reincarnation. Or to those who just want to open their minds to possibilities.
share this:
