Overview
With his first novel, David L. Robbins brings us an illuminating story of longing and redemption, masterfully depicting the deepest human desires for wholeness, fulfillment and love.Despite a tragic past, Virgil thought he'd found contentment being married and running a successful business in Key West with his wife, Ellen. But after four years together, things aren't as blissful as he'd dreamed. Both the loving, spontanteous woman he'd married and the man Virgil had once hoped he'd become through her love have grown distant and cold. Without fault or effort, he and Ellen have become virtual strangers.
Then a twist of cosmic fate offers Virgil a second chance at happiness. The soul of Beatrice, a recently murdered exotic dancer, professional escort and expert chef, mysteriously enters Ellen's body. A woman alone at the end of the world, Beatrice refuses to go into the light until she experiences one day of true love on earth. Heaven accomodates, and she begins to take part-time possession of Ellen's body.
With each stay inside Ellen, Beatrice draws Virgil closer to her, for her spirit seems to embody the very warmth and energy that his marriage is missing. Beatrice,too, grows closer to Virgil and, to make up for the love she'd been denied during her lifetime, sets her sights on winning him for her own.
But if Beatrice wins, Ellen loses her body.
At first, Ellen thinks she's merely losing her mind, until she discovers the impossible truth about Beatrice.
As stubborn and possessive as her counterpart, Ellen is determined to do whatever she needs to keep her body and soul together and win back her husband. But this battle of wills takes an unexpected turn when Ellenand Beatrice begin to learn some hidden truths about themselves and each other -- insights that will heal and complete them both, and gradually transform their initial animosity into a grudging mutual respect.
But what about Virgil? What does he want? Though he still loves Ellen, he is beginning to fall for Beatrice. Soon Virgil finds himself cheating on his wife... with his wife.
Delightfully charming, written in an engaging, pointedly insightful style, Souls to Keep is rich with memorable characters and poignant truths about the bonds of love and the secrets of the human heart. A wonderfully enchanting first novel, it is a luminous story of life, longing, marriage and miracles.