A Final Farewell

Kevin’s senior year of high school isn’t going as he’d planned. So much has changed, and choices he once thought would be easy to make have become increasingly difficult. His best friend has moved away, his girlfriend has dumped him for the school football hero, and life after graduation looms ahead like a chasm without a bridge. Kevin’s got a hot scholarship offer in his hands, but even though it’s hard for him to talk about his Mormon faith with others, he can’t shake the feeling in his heart that he should serve a two-year mission. When the time comes for Kevin to make the most important decision of his life, one that no one else can or should make for him, he must take a leap of faith and learn to trust his own feelings. Will his decision be the right one, even when tragedy strikes? Find out where Kevin’s choices take him in The Final Farewell, the final volume in the Kevin Kirk Chronicles.

This book situates the work of the artist Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) within the context of his life and times. It brings to light fresh information, including evidence of the flute music that Wright played and the ‘graveyard’ genre of poetry that he read. The book argues that Wright is the author of ‘The Final Farewell: a poem written on retiring from London’ (1787). It will be of interest to all admirers of this famously retiring artist. By the same author: The Adventures and Speculations of the Ingenious Peter Perez Burdett.

In this story, specially updated for Fictionwise by the author, an anthropologist travels to the central Australian desert to search for the source of an aboriginal myth--he suspects the terrible Rainbow Serpent is connected to the sacred Uluru rock formations.

What are the beliefs associated with death in India? How do final rites and rituals reveal the misogyny and caste-based discrimination that plague the country? Who are the people involved in managing the deceased and laying them to rest? What are the economic and environmental costs of saying that final goodbye? Powerful and enlightening, The Final Farewell offers a glimpse into a world that is misunderstood and feared. With compassion and sensitivity, Minakshi Dewan explores the many ways in which some of the country's major faiths treat the dead: this includes avoidance of human remains, believed by some to be spiritual pollutants; the worship of bodies at the pyre; professional mourners hired to wail loudly for the dead; and musicians devoted to celebrating life at funerals. Based on thorough research, keen observation, personal interviews, The Final Farewell is a reminder to honour those who came before, and to work towards a better world to leave behind.

As Kevin struggles with the difficult decision between serving a two-year church mission or accepting a scholarship, a disaster strikes that could change everything.