A Persistent Soul

‘’In the Western countries, first they are strangers, then they become friends, then they become more than friends, then they become strangers again’’ A Persistent Soul is a story of Sagar and Kimberly who love each other but they understand ‘love’ differently. She is 23, he is 24. She is beautiful and he is an average looking guy. She is British and he is an Indian. They both are students. He is simple, optimistic, enthusiastic and ambitious. She is hard-headed, unyielding, unforgiving and intolerant but both are heartwarming and exhilarating. Accidently they meet, become friends and fall in love. She is a right girl for him and he is a right guy for her but is the 'time' right for both of them? A middle-class Indian boy, who is new to the Western world, does not understand the Western theory of love. He falls in love with a girl and decides to spend the rest of the life with her. Kimberly is an over thinker and wants to take every step slowly. She has secrets which she doesn’t want to tell anyone and he is the one who wants to know everything. The author Manoj Patil takes us through an incredible journey of love and loss with his debut novel 'A Persistent Soul'. The story of the journey of their love is described beautifully provide vivid sketches of beautiful Newcastle town that form the milieu for their romance. Kimberly's complex character and her complicated past, Western life and culture sensitively brought out through the eyes of a middle-class Indian who persists through storms and rough seas to unite with her spirited lover.

The diaries of a remarkable young woman who was determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with cystic fibrosis and a rare superbug—from age fifteen to her death at the age of twenty-five—the inspiration for the original streaming documentary Salt in My Soul “An exquisitely nuanced chronicle of a terrified but hopeful young woman whose life was beginning and ending, all at once.”—Los Angeles Times Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory Smith grew up to be a determined, talented young woman who inspired others even as she privately raged against her illness. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and a deep understanding that she’d never lead a normal life, Mallory was determined to “Live Happy,” a mantra she followed until her death. Mallory worked hard to make the most out of the limited time she had, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, becoming a cystic fibrosis advocate well known in the CF community, and embarking on a career as a professional writer. Along the way, she cultivated countless intimate friendships and ultimately found love. For more than ten years, Mallory recorded her thoughts and observations about struggles and feelings too personal to share during her life, leaving instructions for her mother to publish her work posthumously. She hoped that her writing would offer insight to those living with, or loving someone with, chronic illness. What emerges is a powerful and inspiring portrait of a brave young woman and blossoming writer who did not allow herself to be defined by disease. Her words offer comfort and hope to readers, even as she herself was facing death. Salt in My Soul is a beautifully crafted, intimate, and poignant tribute to a short life well lived—and a call for all of us to embrace our own lives as fully as possible.

The notion that we spring into existence ex nihilo at birth strikes many people as counter-intuitive. By contrast, the idea that we have an eternal identity appeals to some deep intuition about the self. And indeed, belief in the soul's pre-mortal existence has a long history in Western thought. Terryl Givens offers the first systematic exploration of this fascinating if generally unfamiliar feature of Western cultural history.