Geography of Heaven: Travels to the hereafter

Rory MacLean

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'A magnificent, heartfelt love story: a quest both ancient and entirely original' Jay Griffiths'An epic of travel and a rich testament to an enduring love' Colin Thubron

Five years ago Rory MacLean set out on a path with no idea of where it would lead, of how long it would take or that his life would change forever. When his wife died, he couldn't imagine living without her. So he set out to find where she had gone.

Over the years he searched, tracing across history and around the globe mankind's ideas of the afterlife, seeking out places where the veil is thin. Places where our mortal world touched the divine. He spent a night on Jacob's Rock where the Biblical patriarch had seen a ladder to heaven. In Kerala, he watched gods walk on fire. On the Great Plains, he sundanced with the Lakota. At Jerusalem's Temple Mount, he laid his hand on the stepping stone to another world. In Delhi, he was told 'the universe will keep sending you loving souls to guide you on this journey' and it did, opening doors, revealing wonders beyond his imagination, until - in five truly inexplicable moments - his wife was beside him.

Geography of Heaven: Travels to the Hereafter is the story of that extraordinary journey, of moments of astonishment and awe, of steps taken with hope and love. Hope 'that leads to blissful end' wrote Dante. Hope that 'is of the joy to come' as the light from many a star. At the same time, his journey through grief is explained by the latest neuroscientific research. The result is a life-enhancing travel book like no other that leads to the realisation that none of us are created for naught.

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Rory MacLean

Rory MacLean

Rory MacLean has known three Berlins: West Berlin, where he made movies with David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich; East Berlin, where he researched his first best seller STALIN'S NOSE; and the unified capital where he lives and works today. His nine books have challenged and invigorated creative non-fiction writing, and - according to the late John Fowles - are among works that 'marvellously explain why literature still lives'. He has won awards from the Canada Council and the Arts Council of England as well as a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary prize. He has also written and presented over 50 BBC radio programmes and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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