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Yes America, there is a heaven. Just ask Charlie St. Cloud, an
earthly saint who secretly helps the dead's transition through the
"in between," which waits after life and into the great beyond ---
the next world, heaven, nirvana, whatever you may call it.

As caretaker of Waterside Cemetery in the harbor village of
Marblehead, Massachusetts, Charlie is the sandy blond,
freckle-faced prince of a simple life in the safest of places. He
tends the cemetery, plays catch with his younger brother Sam,
enjoys quiet evenings at his forest-side cottage, watches the Sox
and has his coffee each morning at the docks. The serenity is a
thin blanket for Charlie's one big mistake, the accident that
changed everything thirteen years ago.

Though he throws a mean curveball and likes a swim in the pond, Sam
St. Cloud is dead. But Charlie sees and talks to him because Sam is
just like Charlie's other cemetery acquaintances, the others in the
"in between," a place where the newly departed and a few spiritual
hangers-on await their time to pass onto the next astral plane.
Charlie is their gentle yet unofficial guide in that confusing time
a soul may experience when it has left its earthly shell.

The literary gatekeeper of world records, true love, miracles and
hope, novelist Ben Sherwood (THE MAN WHO ATE THE 747) steps into
the pastoral landscape of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN and Frank
Capra's It's a Wonderful Life to explore the tortured lives
of those who cannot let go and those who blame themselves for
life's misfortunes. He describes Charlie's knowledge of the
cemetery's spirits: "Folks often showed up bewildered …
Sometimes they didn't even comprehend that life was over and had to
spend a few days figuring things out. Others knew right away what
had brought them down and they screamed at God and the world from
the moment they arrived. They were the ones who held on to friends
and family as long as they could. And then there were the folks who
had it the easiest of all, letting go quickly and moving on to the
next realm."

A high school junior at the time, Charlie's wonderful life ended at
the same moment as his little brother Sam's when the car they
mischievously "borrowed" to go see a baseball game was struck by a
drunk driver. But Charlie's time in the "in between" was brief as
he was shocked back to life by fireman Florio Ferrente, a doomed
character whose dedication and heroism brings to mind thoughts of
New York and D.C., 2001. Charlie was saved to live with the guilt
and pain of knowing that he should not have been driving that car
and that they shouldn't have been on that bridge when fate knocked
them out of this world. Over a decade of lost dreams and major
sacrifices later, Charlie feels his sole duties in life are to
advise the confused spirits that pass through Waterside and keep a
sacred promise, a daily date for catch with his brother's innocent
spirit.

A chance meeting with local sail maker Tess Carroll (and a most
curious series of plot twists) sways Charlie with the power of the
north wind. Transcendent in beauty and long on independence, Tess
has a plan to sail around the world to prove her courage, to set a
record, to remember the bold spirit of her recently deceased father
and to find true love. Charlie finds that he must choose between
the past --- living in the promise he made to his brother --- and
the sparkling future he could have with Tess, a release, the gift
of knowledge and freedom from the false Eden of the cemetery.

A modern day O. Henry, Sherwood conjures the timeless muse of John
Lennon to deliver the strongest ecumenical message our country
could embrace in this post-September 11th era, when many thousands
are still hurting --- the dead speak to us in music, in the wind,
like the moon, the stars and the sun, and we just have to listen
and know that we are not alone. We all shine on.