All of Us Together in the End

by Matthew Vollmer

Matthew Vollmer’s family memoir shimmers with wonder and enchantment and begins with the death of his mother from early-onset Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Soon after, flashing lights and floating orbs appear in the woods surrounding his family’s home in rural North Carolina, where his widowed father lives. Formative memories of having been raised in the Seventh-day Adventist church resurge in Vollmer’s mind, hastening self-reexamination and reckoning. He corresponds with a retired geology professor about “ghost lights,” which supposedly occur more in North Carolina than any other American state. He scrolls TikTok. He contacts an eccentric shaman who lives in Spain to have transcendental psychotherapy administered over Zoom. And then Jolene emerges, a woman endeared for decades to Vollmer’s father, holding secrets to their family’s past. Amidst the turmoil and loneliness of the pandemic, All of Us Together in the End is a poignant and often humorous investigation into belief set in a time where it seems people will believe anything. It is an elegiac affirmation of the awesome, strange, otherworldly ways our loved ones remain alive to us, even when they are out of reach.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Grief, Death

Audible Audio

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[Dez the Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

What did I just read? Ugh!

The description in the book cover is about 1/10th of the what this book is actually about. I was so annoyed I had to read pages upon pages about his upbringing as a Seventh Day Adventist and their belief system and how his family was in the subject and just in and on. I read more about his time in a boarding school than I did about the lights in the woods his father is seeing (which is what I was really interested in). The correspondence it talks about? Literally a couple emails. That’s it. Nothing more. The Shaman? Again, a couple pages.

This felt like a polished diary…full of complaints and negative thoughts about religion, people who didn’t want to take the COVID-19 vaccine and then this…”The fact that we elected a toxic blowhard to be our president…”. Like what?! Why is this in a book that’s supposed to be about spirituality?? This was just his way to slide his own political beliefs in and what it winds up doing is turning people away.

I wanted more of what the cover touted. Where was the spirituality? The intrigue? The revealing of the mysterious lights? Literally ANYTHING related to these lights that appear after the mother does. We get none of that, save the mention of them over and over. That’s it. The whole book. Such a huge disappointment.

[M. Sarki · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/al...

It has taken some time but I have also come to believe that beliefs are inherited. Seems to be my most pressing concern of late, and in turn, Matthew Vollmer’s as well. Of course, I have my own upbringing to deal with. The biggest difference between us is in our individual family dynamics in which Vollmer loves and respects them all in spite of their many differences politically, biblically, and a host of other seemingly benign remarks concerning the foibles of humanity. And I do not.

The crutch of this book centers around Vollmer’s beloved mother dying after suffering through ten years of slow decline in the loss of her mind. My own father is in this same boat today and it is troublesome to see him devolve into a giant Baby Huey in front of my eyes. He is no longer the person I knew for so many decades. The father I knew is already dead. And there is no way he would have wanted his ending to be this way. But it’s not up to him any longer but rather those in charge of taking care of him, those who switch out the locks so he won’t escape in the middle of the night, my mother feeding him oxygen twenty-four hours a day, changing his diapers, fastening his bib, and keeping him alive for reasons unknown to me unless they need his vote to keep the combustible nonsense churning in our nation’s capital. The most significant perpetrator of this awful insanity in addition to my mother is my sister. But there are others, obviously, also involved.

Vollmer’s book is topical in the sense it was composed during Covid 19 and the Trump presidency debacle. This was, and still is today, a time of religious and cultural upheaval on several fronts. There seems to be no end to the strife and angst caused by these proponents of conspiracy and their disdain and distrust of authority. It is also a book about dying and/or starting over.

There is acceptance involved and understanding, even of those things that cannot be explained such as the mysterious lights in the woods after his beloved mother died. And as I read the painful feelings for me are focused on my own detachment from my birth parents, the ones who raised me and taught me all the bullshit I have spent years unlearning. I have none of the good feelings Vollmer describes and absent the great love for either of my parents that Vollmer subscribes to and is grateful for. Although I am dissatisfied with much of the job my parents did in raising their children, I am not at all unappreciative of the food provided for on the table, the clean clothes, nice home, and feeling safe all through my childhood. They brought me into this world but couldn’t wait for me to leave the nest and be on my own. So in essence I am a bit envious of Vollmer and anyone else who harbors a great love and respect for their family, no matter their differences.

Matthew Vollmer is a writer I always read, and his previous books have all been enjoyable and interesting. This one not so much. And not because it isn’t good. For one I am an ex-Lutheran and have spent decades delving into spirituality and religion and have recently come to a conclusion that parallels the position of neuroscientist/philosopher Sam Harris. I am not at all interested today in learning anything about any denomination or movement promising eternal life other than perhaps artificial intelligence, which I admit scares the shit out of me. These religious archaic beliefs passed down through the generations have lived out their usefulness with a person like me. But personal relationships and moving on after a loved one dies is something my wife and I talk about quite regularly. I do have contradictions I am genetically and environmentally faced with.

A year ago last June my thirty-nine year old stepdaughter died after a five-year bout with terminal cancer. There was no expense spared to get her the best doctors and treatment and she was lucky in the sense she was married to a very wealthy man. But in the end the cancer did her in. And by then she was a skeleton and a weak but still breathing corpse until the moment she died after living with not only the physical but extreme emotional pain in knowing her little boy and loving husband would be going on without her. And her husband wasted no time in moving on, much as Vollmer’s father did, which brings on confusing emotions and harsh judgments better left to those of us who have gone through the same thing. So the book wasn’t fun so to speak. There wasn't much to lift me from my disquieting dour expressions that conflict me every day. There was no momentary escape from the world I live in. But Vollmer did succeed in furthering my incessant research int0 myself, my inner workings, and what can only be hoped for as an evolving understanding of what it is and what it might be about. In other words, more questions than answers. And I suppose that, in the long run, that is what great literature is meant to do.

I am confident this book will affect everyone who reads it differently than it did me. We bring our own baggage to each reading experience. The book basically left me a bit heartbroken as it concerns my own estranged family of origin. But the one thing that impressed me the most was Vollmer’s gratitude for having a wife and life partner he can intimately talk to and share their lives with. And Vollmer and I agree this has to be a rare and elusive accomplishment, and one not to be taken lightly, or for granted. Several decades ago my wife literally saved me from my own destruction, gave me a purpose to live, and without her, I would undoubtedly be dead.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge Matthew Vollmer fan, and this is his best book. It combines nearly all of the things that make Matthew one of our most earnest and interesting writers—his Seventh-Day Adventist upbringing and open, loving approach to all matters of life, death, faith, and the universe; his rootedness; his interest in the strange and unexplained and parallel attention to the quotidian; his sentences that stay tight no matter the length; his unending curiosity and generosity of spirit; his humor, which is never cheap and always insightful even when it’s sharp or self deprecating or mean—and puts them all in one place so we can marvel at them. But the loss of his mother, on which this book centers, gives this book a sort of anchoring grief that doesn’t suffocate the narrative but infuses it with a seriousness that cuts to the core of what it’s like to be a person in the world. In the sections that take place during peak COVID, you feel that exact dull weirdness that hung over those days. And I haven’t even gotten to the strange lights his dad starts seeing in the woods behind Vollmer’s childhood home, which shape the narrative and give it this mysterious quality to which Matthew’s voice is singularly suited. You can’t read the book without falling in love with his parents and their community; you’re reading about this living web of relationships that only deepen and spreads with his mother’s passing. But she’s always there. She feels so alive, and she makes the whole book shimmer. This is his most propulsive work to date and his most vulnerable. It feels like a culmination of everything he’s ever done with his work. I haven’t cried as much as I did reading this book in a long time. I couldn’t tell you the last book that had that kind of effect on me. But it’s not a sad book. It’s beautiful and smart and funny and big hearted and just so moving. But never cheesy. I love all of Vollmer’s work, but this is the one with which I’ll tell people to start from now on.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about grief. This is about hope and mysterious lights and making it all make sense in the backdrop of the pandemic. I found it beautiful.

[Brooke Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book feels like the moment when you dial your deceased mother’s cell phone number and hear an automated voice telling you to leave a message for “Billy White” which, of course, is not your mother’s name (pg. 212). Like the moment you realize you no longer believe in the ideas your childhood was founded upon and you’re not sure what it is you believe in now or what beliefs even are or what reality even is but what you do know is that everyone you’ve ever known, living or dead, is with you, inside you, in the place they’ve always lived and that despite the absurdities and contradictions of life, there is still (paranormal-esque) light to be found. A brilliant memoir from a brilliant human.

[Leah Tyler]

SEE FULL REVIEW ON ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION WEBSITE :

Virginia author Matthew Vollmer’s memoir “All of Us Together in the End” is a tender and poignant study on grief set against the emergence of the COVID pandemic and ensuing lockdown.

In early 2020, flashing lights began appearing in the woods outside his father’s rural North Carolina home shortly after Vollmer’s mother died. Curious if the mysterious light is in some way connected to her, he sets out to explain the source of this phenomena while unraveling the stringent beliefs of his Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) family, who reject the possibility...

https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/reli...

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful, wistful and generous exploration of grief, love, and complicated relationships with family and faith. As someone who made a similar journey away from the same faith, I found this memoir resonated in so many ways, and I loved Matthew’s beautiful, detailed writing that made his thoughts and memories come alive, and shared a wonderful portrait of his beloved parents and family. I read this pretty much straight through, I enjoyed it so much, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know!

[Abi Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a grounded memoir- it’s very much an ordinary story about ordinary people, which is nice. I learned a lot about Seventh-Day Adventist churches, which I didn’t know much about. Overall, it’s a look at grief, growing up, faith, and the deconstruction of said faith, with a little bit of mysticism thrown in there. Some parts were more interesting than others.

[Lindsay Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this quest for meaning in the face of a childhood of absolutes and an adulthood of mystery and searching.

[Amolina Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

a beautifully written book about loss and love. and faith.

4.5

[Lucas Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is memoir month at my school's library. I had them purchase this after reading Permanent Exhibit and really ended up enjoying it. The writing has a plain-spokenness and conversational quality that I was not immediately drawn into but ended up loving.

This is a memoir focused on grief, but also is a retelling of the early days of the COVID19 pandemic. In a strange, unexpected way I thought of it as companion piece to Raw Dog. While that book is a layer of tragedy over a lot of comedy, this book was something more of a personal reckoning with family, the past, and the fragileness of the present. Growing up Southeast Tennessee it was exciting to read a memoir of growing up in the Seventh Day Adventist tradition. This was a faith that I was around a lot as a kid, but never very close to many practicing members. I appreciated the honest and respect Vollmer has for his upbringing. This is a particular type of book, but a great example of it.

[Jennifer Annan House · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful memoir. I did not know that Matthew Vollmer lives in Blacksburg, and teaches at Virginia Tech. I live in Blacksburg and, so, as I started reading, and he talked about Blacksburg, I immediately felt like I was talking to a friend, more than reading a book. Now that we have that out of the way, I found this book to be heartfelt and illuminating and so well written. I loved learning about his Seventh Day Adventist upbringing, his childhood years spent in NC, and how he dealt with the death of his beloved mother. And of course, the lights! Highly recommend!

[Emily Vastis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devoured this book in 2 days and absolutely loved it. Vollmer’s writing is incredible, enchanting, and had me hooked the entire time. This book is an incredible look at grief, religious backgrounds, things we don’t understand, and even the COVID pandemic. I 100% recommend and hope to read more of his work soon!

[Emma Maney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful memoir that didn’t even feel like a memoir. In fact, due to my own poor close reading skills, I didn’t even know it was a memoir until I double checked the blurb on the jacket 100 pages in. A lovely story about family, religion, death, and the beauty of the natural world. Especially enjoyed this as a WNC local. :) would love to see this author write a novel set in Andrews or elsewhere in WNC!

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this memoir very much and connected with the content as a former member of the same religious background as the author. The writing was very good and I directly related to his upbringing in many ways. It was interesting that he has more of a positive outlook in that regard, and I enjoyed how he used critical thinking and verses to debate with his family about the source of the lights and other fundamental beliefs the church holds.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about the beliefs of Seventh Day Adventists from this memoir about religion, grief, and the search for meaning. The author was raised in the SDA church but left it as an adult. The grief is over the death of his mother after suffering for a lengthy time with dementia.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely memoir on death and life and religious upbringing that has been rejected. I loved this.

[Jt O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book for everyone but it certainly captured my attention. The book takes a meandering walk through mystery with words that are authentic, tender, and mystical. All Of Us Together In The End is essentially a mystery story - strange lights in the woods of North Carolina. The strange lights, however, are only one of the mysteries central to the book. It is also a mystery story about life and death, about grieving, about, belief systems, about love, and about "why does life try if death always wins?". (From remarks made by the author’s student Lexi Wiley. p.164)

Although many explanations for the lights in the night were offered, none of them provided a definitive answer. I have my ideas and that’s one of the beauties of the book. The reader gets to allow the mysteries to unfold for themselves. I appreciate how Matthew Vollmer seems to make the lights the obvious mystery but really? All those other mysteries are equally important. It’s also worth noting that much of the story unfolds after the COVID lockdown begins in March of 2020. The fear and uncertainty that gripped the world at that time bleed through and into the story of losing a mother. Woven into that story is the impact of a religious belief system on the author and on his family. And central to everything are the deepest questions of life: what is our purpose? What does it mean to live and die?

For the most part, this is not a linear book. The author drifts in and out of his own history with the Adventist Church, and with his story of grief surrounding his mother’s death. Mr. Vollmer invites the reader to know his dad through vignettes from the past as well as through his dad’s curiosity about the strange lights. Mr Vollmer also muses about death in the way that many thoughtful people do. He reminds us of those opening pandemic days and recalls some of the ways that people responded to this unknown virus. And he does it all in an engaging, sometimes humorous, sometimes philosophical, and always reflective style. If mysteries, both concrete and abstract, are attractive to you, then give this book a read. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Here are a few of the quotes I marked:

“What it means, I’m not sure. Maybe it is to get him to not be so certain. That there are things in this world and the next that we don’t understand. And it’s okay. You don’t have to have it all pinned down. And perhaps it means that even in the midst of death, we might have the opportunity to find new life.” p. 112

“My mother’s body was, in a sense, alive with all these various energies, playing its part in the only eternity we could verify for sure: relentless transformation.” p. 161

This quote courtesy of Matthew Vollmer’s student, Lexi Wiley: “We are nothing but the people we love and the people who love us, all of which are gone when they take their last breaths. And eventually there will be no trace of us. Dust in the wind. So, why? What is the point of it all? What is the point of striving for money and fame and success if it will disappear as soon as we leave the earth…and we can’t stop time. That is the scariest part. Time. It is always moving and we can’t stop it. Ticking ticking ticking closer to our inevitable deaths. There’s nothing to be done. Death will always win. Why does life try if death always wins? We keep looking to the future, searching for some answer to a question that doesn’t exist, and sooner than later we are staring straight at death. All we have is now.” 163-164

This quote courtesy of Matthew Vollmer’s student Brooke: “Because the question is: what am I going to do with my long string of tomorrows?” p 169

“There’s a Vietnamese proverb…that I’ll probably butcher now but it’s something like , if you lose your dad, it’s like the roof blew off your house, but if you lose your mom, you lose…the SKY.” p. 201

“All brains are broken. We like to believe in the things we told ourselves about our families, because, in doing so, we could take chaos and give it, as so many of preferred , especially in time that so many people were not calling uncertain, the appearance of order.” p. 204

“The most human thing that we can do, aside from living, is to die. It’s inevitable. And what point is there in fearing the inevitable?” p. 220

“I thought of that quote from Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlives, by David M. Eagleman: “ There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.” p. 222

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by a Seventh-day Adventist online friend who has herself written memoirs and was enjoying this one.

I read the book aloud because my husband also wanted to read it, but had had recent cataract-removals and was experiencing something like blindness. (I am happy to say that that has resolved).

I am a sort-of Seventh-day Adventist, but closer to the age of the author's parents, and I did not grow up in an Adventist home or culture. My husband converted to Adventism via listening to the 'Voice of Prophecy' on KARI radio (Washington state), completing a number of Bible studies, and attending a series of evangelistic outreaches. In 1971 he was baptized. I was married to him throughout this experience but did not really become interested in the religion for over 20 years. Then I was baptized and became a Church member in the early 1990s, and by 2017 we had discontinued attending our local Church because of an emotionally-spiritually shattering experience-- or maybe just the final notes following a lengthy period of cruscendo. In any case, we are ''still on the books" as members, and have many SDA friends, have a connection with an online Adventist Church (with a woman pastor), and are involved with the "progressive'' Adventist community that presents a weekly livestream-ZOOM ''Sabbath Seminar'' This is all to say that we did not grow up in the Adventist faith or culture so have a different set of experiences and family relationship dynamics than Matthew Vollmer, but we can relate to his appreciation and love for his unconditionally loving parents and his conflicting inability to share their Adventist Christian beliefs. My husband and I diverge somewhat from each other, so I will attempt *not to tell his story.*

You can read a lot of what the book is like in the reviews above. We enjoyed it-- it was very well-written and moved along at a just-right pace. I was a little sceptical about the way he presented his parents as having been so very accepting, affirming, etc., in spite of their differences of belief. I do not think I have come across that very often in Christian families, or Adventist families especially. We also went through this dilemma with our own children, neither of whom is Adventist. As we ourselves have stepped back from being heavily involved in *the life of the Church* (that is, having served in several capacities over the years, such as Head Elder (my husband) and Sabbath School teacher (my husband), Women's Ministries, children's classes, and ad hoc social support roles (I was a social worker in my work life), we have been able to see how our kids are basically good, decent, respectful, kind, insightful, spiritually-tuned-in folks with their share of healthy relationships and points of view. Perhaps that is where Vollmer's parents arrived as well, and the unconditional love came from a place of recognizing that their adult children were responsible children of God, on a journey-- maybe not the same as theirs, denominationally, but none-the-less living out the Christian values that they had been brought up with.

This book made me think about family relationships. Like I read in one of the other reviews, I also feel some regret that we didn't have the closeness and non-combative experience of growing up and nurturing relationships with parents that Matthew appears to have had. I am happy to say that I feel that I am on a very positive journey now in getting to know more about Jesus of Nazarath and to look at a relationship with Him and others in a slightly different way than I did when I was immersed in the drama and doctrine of the religion. I generally feel more peaceful and authentic to myself.

Matthew Vollmer offers insights and honest reflections that are refreshing to read in contrast to some of the formulaic memoirs by persons of faith-- not that I read any of those any more.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir is about grief, family, faith, the passage of time, nature, and mystery. It's anchored by the appearance of mysterious lights that appear on the property of the author's father soon after his mother passes away after a long battle with dementia. Other people (including the author) also witness the lights, and offer possible explanations, although none of these are confirmed (leaving the reader to decide their origin and nature). Of course, one theory is they are his mother communicating from the other side.

I enjoyed reading about the Seventh Day Adventist faith and how their beliefs may or may not tie into the lights. I didn't know much (anything, really) about SDA before reading this book. I did lose my dad to dementia, and can certainly relate to missing him and losing him in that way. And I do see things in nature that remind me of him often. Never lights, though. Apparently this happens, there are documented cases of mysterious lights; I had never heard of this either so I found that interesting as well. The timeline of part of this book overlaps with the start of COVID 19 so we are briefly transported back to those early pandemic days as well as all the upheaval that went along with 2020. I did appreciate how the author was respectful and kind to his relatives, despite political and religious differences; we all know that is not always easy to do. I liked the writing, although he did meander a bit and the pace was on the slower side, but I think navigating the ups and downs of grief requires some wandering. I consider this a peaceful book overall, and part of that is the writing style. I know bits of it will stay with me and that is always appreciated.

{library, Kindle}

[Lee Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

MV's masterwork? Felt like what he's been gearing up to write, like his previous books, particularly unpublished novel manuscripts I read ~15-10 years ago, were practice for this memoir. His mom (and her passing) and the weird lights that appear in the woods behind his father's home give him an intriguing, moving story to tell -- and he tells it so well, the mystery of the ghost lights a perfect vehicle for narrative drive, propelling all his usual interests along with it. His parents and family and friends and the region all make for a compelling world for a reader to inhabit. His patented internet/news integration technique rarely seems random or excessive. Affecting and timely and relevant and just the sort of reading experience that could be called "flowing joy." For the most part felt very excited for him that he’d written this -- and it inspired me to raise the game on the thing I was working on at the time. I read this in manuscript form, a shared gdoc on an iPad. Very much looking forward to reading the final print version (with its perfect cover) when it comes out in early 2023. Pre-ordering will help its reception, so precious GR friends please join me in pre-ordering it now.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75
Premise of this family memoir seemed intriguing: author’s mom dies from fairly early-onset Alzheimer’s & then Parkinson’s. We hear of the grieving (some through odd reflections) & then get laden with how their background of Seventh-Day Adventist religion impacted his perceptions (Matthew renounced this as a young adult). Shortly after the loss, his father begins seeing elusive & unexplainable light orbs, which Matthew becomes obsessed with. This was what drew me in, but they left after his father essentially moved on. The pandemic also takes over during this period. Just not what I hoped; boring for the most part.
A quote from the beginning:
“Human beings never achieve perfect knowledge because anything we know at any given moment is invariably revised later.”

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the thoughtful take on a son dealing with the loss of his mother while at the same time working to be present for his still living dad. His take on explaining the unexplainable in terms of the lights that his father, and later he, sees in the woods surrounding his father’s homes is well written and interesting. The relationship between the loss, the lights, and the religions of his youth is very well done. Imo religion, particularly fundamentalist religion (is there any other kind? ; ), is damaging both to those who grow up in them and those who must interact with those raised in them. This author appears to have emerged relatively unscathed and that is a tribute to both him and both of him parents.

I recommend this book.

[Laura_b · Rating 5 out of 5]

All OF US TOGETHER IN THE END by Matthew Vollmer

Found this little gem at my local book store Bookmarks Winston Salem NC. This is based off of true events and the authors point of view. Matthew Vollmer suffered the passing of his mother in the fall of 2019 after a long unwanted journey with Alzheimer and Parkinson. December of 2019 his father is seeing Ghost Lights in the NC mountain where his home is. Having been raised Seven Day Adventist when you pass away that is it. Nothing More. So what are these Ghost Lights? His Mother, Evil, Aliens or just some strange natural phenomenon? Then the pandemic hits. This story takes you through the struggles of finding that new normal when grief enters your life plus navigating the shut down of the world. This book hit home on so many different levels and is one I will not stop thinking about any time soon.

Publisher Hub City Press

[Tiffany Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars. It’s never a good sign when I’m relieved a book is over, but I didn’t entirely dislike this. I picked it up on a whim at the library because it features a mother-son dynamic, but beyond that thread, I probably was not the target audience for this book. I enjoyed the parts I anticipated - especially when the author wrote about the letters from his mother & how he can almost anticipate what she would say in conversations if she were still alive today.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a childhood SDA, I can relate to so much in this book. He speaks of that particular fundamentalism in such an apt manner that it felt a bit cathartic for me. I’m no longer part of that faith but I appreciate some of its tenets, as does he. Beautiful prose written with care and compassion for his family, and a penchant for the mysterious. He should have given the tobacco to the tree, though!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique and emotional memoir. At times I wish the author would have gone a little deeper into his issues with Adventism and why he left the church, but I also understand that the main point of the book was not to be a treatise against Adventism. Regardless, it is incredibly well-written, and well worth a read.

[Lauren Bralski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent story on grief, hope, and believing in the mystery of “what’s next”. Beautifully written and I have found myself thinking of pages read over the course of the day. I may just buy my own copy to have in the shelf!

[Heather Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

With beautiful writing and a touch of ghostly magic, Matthew Volmer finds a way to write about the hard topics of losing a parent to dementia and death, and living through the pandemic.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Poignant.