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"Rich with empathy, humor, and imagination, Giorgio paints a beautiful picture of the afterlife that is a balm for anyone who has ever lost someone." -Marisa Dondlinger, author of Open and Gray Lines
In Heaven, there is a gated community for those who end their lives by choice. This is a complete surprise to 43-year old Hope, who ends her life one morning on the banks of the Fox River in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Hope has always dealt with deep sadness. From childhood on, she visited therapists, doctors, alternative medicine practitioners, Reiki artists, etc., to no avail. In Heaven, God reassures her that he knows what caused the sadness, but he won't reveal it yet.
All community residents are required to attend weekly group therapy. Hope's first group is led by Virginia Woolf.
Several of the book's chapters tell the stories of other members of this group. Filled with many moments of striking humor, uplifting realizations, and difficult challenges, Hope finds her way in Heaven. She meets many people like herself, who help her restore her forgotten artistic talent and passion, and God himself, who is amazingly human in the most inhuman of ways. Hope finds understanding and forgiveness, and most importantly, friends.
About the author
Kathie Giorgio is a critically acclaimed author of four novels – The Home for Wayward Clocks (2011), Learning to Tell (A Life)Time (2013), Rise from the River (2015), and In Grace’s Time (2017); two story collections, Enlarged Hearts (2012) and Oddities and Endings; The Collected Stories of Kathie Giorgio (2016); a collection of essays, Today’s Moment of Happiness Despite the News; A Year of Spontaneous Essays (2018); two poetry chapbooks, True Light Falls in Many Forms (2016) and When You Finally Said No (2019), and a full-length collection of poetry, No Matter Which Way You Look, There Is More to See (2020).
She lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with her husband, Michael Giorgio, (a mystery writer); her daughter, Olivia, who is writing her first novel; a neurotic dog named after Ursula Le Guin; a fat cat named Edgar Allen Paw, and a tiny cat named Muse. Her life is graced with her three older kids, Christopher, Andy, and Katie, and one dynamite granddaughter, Maya Mae.
