In the Between

Bardo #1

by May Sinclair

In the Between is a metaphysical fantasy about a woman who dies and travels through the Bardo. The book opens with an explanation of the term: she is going from one life to the next. The Bardo comes from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, loosely translated as: The In Between. And according to that book, souls travel through it for 49 days, during which time they are encouraged to accept any one of numerous heavens being offered. Well, unless there is some karma left over from another past life.
There are 49 chapters in the book because according to the Tibetan Book of the Dead souls travel for seven weeks through the in between.
But our soul, in the story, is not Buddhist, she is from the West. And being the kind of woman she has become through all the countless lives—she believes she has lived—she developed her own ideas about living and what happens at death.
Based on her ideas she has about the Bardo she gets to re-live some of her past lives to help with the evolution of her soul. But, before any of that happens—right from the start—when she first arrives at the Bardo, she is surprised to discover something odd about her soul that is confusing. She learns there are two parts to her soul—the animal and the spiritual. The two aspects disagree about what the soul is supposed to accomplish and the book spells out the differences through lively dialogue between them.
After coming to some harmony, our soul agrees to re-live her past lives that took place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Spain, Brussels, France, England, the U.S., and India. After each experience the two aspects of our soul review what happened—why she made choices causing karma that must be balanced in her future—and the two parts of our soul begin to grow together.
She learns everything is much more complicated than she ever thought, including all of her relationships whether they seemed, good or not so good. She also finds out how it is that thinking people develop their personal ideas about God, the universe, energy, but most importantly why souls are on planet earth—at all.
The book allows for all of us to ask ourselves: What if it is true? What if we don’t go to Heaven…or Hell when we die? What if karma does exist? What if we do reincarnate into another life to try to learn about our past mistakes and get to balance out misdeeds?

336 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2013

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect when embarking on "In the Between", having never read anything, be it fiction or non-fiction on the subject of reincarnation or the karmic journey of the soul.
I'm glad to say I thouroughly enjoyed this wonderful novel. May Sinclair's background in non-fiction and extensive knowlege of ancient history, rites and traditions brings this wonderfully rich and intricately woven tale to life, taking the reader on a journey that will imprint itself on your very own "starry"!!
So whatever your beliefs...."In the Between" by May Sinclair is an enjoyable, emotional and ultimately comforting experience.

[Libby Grandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

May Sinclair’s novel, In the Between, is a well-written and meticulously researched story about reincarnation. After the protagonist’s death, her journey through the Bardo (the in between) is intriguing. The character re-lives past lives from Mesopotamia to those in the 20th century, learning different lessons, such as compassion in Egypt, independence in Greece, cooperation in Jerusalem, and responsibility in Istanbul. She comes to understand the choices she made and the subsequent karma. Her “visits” to the husband she left behind in her last life are poignant.

Sinclair’s skills as a writer help clarify a complicated belief. Even if readers are ambivalent about the subject matter, they will find In the Between compelling and thought provoking.

[Sandra Brautigam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book takes a unique point of view with the main character being between lives looking into their own relationship threads. The story really takes you away from thoughts of past lives because you are following the thread of the character as if it is all one big life. I enjoyed the characters and the dips into the various times and cultures. In the Between was unlike any story I have read before and I liked it.

[Sarah Carless · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the concept of an old soul re-visiting her previous embodiments over the millennia - it’s an attractive possibility worthy of more attention than it gets. However, the quality of the writing & its conversion to eBook (full of typos & howling errors, along with some plainly incorrect facts) rendered the book irritating & frustrating. Poor choice of language and some strangely teenaged sounding phraseology undermine what’s essentially a good idea for a novel.

[Thomas V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to my local library and checked out a book that my friend suggested that I read. I found it interesting because it was about reincarnation, a subject I knew very little about. I traveled in the book to places like Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Palestine, Turkey, Spain, England, and India. I felt immersed in the cultures of those places and the senses of living there. I followed the heroine as she relived past lives while traveling through the Bardo, which loosely translates to the title of this book, In the Between. Though the first time reading this story I became so angry at the main character that I threw the book across the room. Unable to resist, I wanted to know what happened next. I picked it up and was glad I did. Though it is a common belief that when we die, we are alone traveling to the afterlife, it is not so within the pages of this read. The main character meets her spiritual soul whom she names Starry, for her shimmering fire cracker like aura, who is her guide. Unable to choose a possible heaven because of her built up karma, will she be able to find her balance while in the Bardo. If not, at the end of the Bardo, she will choose parents that will help her to find that balance. Read this book. It works on different levels, for the thinker and those that just want to get away. I did, twice.
-Thomas Garcia

[Teryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In the Between” is an intelligently written and crafted story of a women traveling from death to what’s next. The story begins with a woman on her death bed and immediately takes us into where she goes next, which is the Bardo or The Between. In the Bardo she is guided by her Spiritual Soul, funnily enough named Starry, and made to relive her most important past lives in order to learn from them and help determine how she will be reborn next.

We travel from the very beginning of civilization all the way to a little ways into the future, where our story beings. As it turns out her soul is very old and has suffered many woes. She has been killed several times, killed herself once, died a birth once, and died of old age as well. She has also been a High Priestess, Princess, Queen, Spiritual Dancer, Writer, and a Spinster. Through it all though, the same souls/people she knew now, seem to keep appearing in other forms in her past life!

Her journey through each life is unique and incredible to read. The facts in each story are so exact and plentiful; you would think the Author was actually from that place/time.

Some disclaimer, there is a lot of technical terms in here that might start off confusing, but I promise you will get it as you go. This story is definitely worth the read and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel!

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

'In The Between' is a very unique, interesting story about reincarnation. The main character travels through the 'Bardo' and revisits a number of her past reincarnations. Although I don't exactly believe in such things, I found the tale to be fascinating. Imagine if karma and reincarnation were true, and you have your story. It was written in such a way that everything was easily understood, even by someone (such as myself) who didn't have hardly any knowledge on the subject at hand. As a lover of history, however, I more than appreciated the historical accounts and facts thrown into the stories via the past lives. A very vivid picture is painted throughout the story, and I found it very easy to lose myself in what I was reading. I would highly recommend this book by May Sinclair to anyone who wants an in-depth read that will keep you thinking while you stay entertained.