Happy New Year! We’re rolling out a new feature on our blog that spotlights writers through interviews and book announcements. Our first book feature of 2020 is A New Beginning: Transcendence by Johanna Kristin Ellerup.
Title: A New Beginning: Transcendence
Author: Johanna Kristin Ellerup
Format: Paperback / Ebook
Purchase Links:
~ Book Blurb ~
An unusual look at life, life after death, and reincarnation as told by a murder victim’s spirit as it seeks to answer the ageless question – Why are we here?
Within the soul of Transcendence is the premise that no matter how bad life gets, no matter how many mistakes one makes, there is always a chance to transcend.
A pharmacist is murdered for investigating her suspicion that the pharmacy’s owners are involved in narcotics diversion and money laundering. Upon her death, she descends into an alternate quantum dimension, where she believes that her purpose is to reunite her many pets under the ownership of a uniquely gifted old woman.
What follows is the intermingling of the lives of otherwise unrelated people, leading to the healing of old wounds and hatreds, strength in the face of overwhelming hardship and lasting friendships. Each person experiences their own personal transcendence.
When the old woman suddenly dies, the pharmacist is forced into the old woman’s body and is faced with having to continue a life that is not her own while struggling to understand the mystical forces at play in the universe.
Transcendence is an inspirational look into the transformative ability of acceptance and unconditional love enjoyed by readers both young and old.
~ About the Author ~
Johanna Kristin Ellerzup is a Doctor of Pharmacy, or PharmD, and this is her first novel. Ellerup is single and lives in a quiet NY neighborhood with her father and several rescue pets.
~ Book Review ~
Transcendence is set in a fictional American town, blends occult drama with a psychological thriller piece, and adds a touch of murder mystery via an unexpected protagonist: the murder victim’s spirit, which faces a question of purpose in its reincarnated life.
The fact that the pharmacist has been murdered in the process of investigating an international drug ring is only the beginning of a complex tale. Themes move through her revision of her goals in the afterlife, her venture into the lives of unrelated people (think Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, but with more of a philosophical hand), and her growing realizations about unconditional love and its purpose in the world.
This lends Transcendence a much more ethereal and spiritual tone than other stories of reincarnation. What do dogs and business interests have to do with this bigger picture? Johanna Kristin Ellerup weaves a tale that incorporates many unusual facets throughout. Readers should cultivate flexibility as they pursue a mercurial story that delves into these different lives and realizations. Any such effort will be well rewarded with a story that is poignant, revealing, and filled with evocative descriptions of not just the familiar world, but other dimensions: “I was somehow lost, and that feeling alone confused me. I spent my entire known existence within a human body yet spending a few years as some form of singular energy had such a profound effect that returning to a human body left me discomfited. As energy, I envied humans the ability to feel themselves, to feel their existence and yet now it only feels like a dead weight. A huge, confining barrier to all other forms of existence and intellect. I marveled at the energy expenditure required to do the simplest of tasks, like lifting my arm, or finger.”
Those seeking a blend of mystery, reincarnation saga, and spiritual reflective piece will find Transcendence just the ticket with its occult story of psychological suspense and spiritual and philosophical growth.
Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan Senior Reviewer
TL Publishing Group LLC 