title: One Life Well and Truly Promised
author: Parker, Richard D.
description: Six thousand years ago, before the birth of the Akkadian Empire, it started with a promise. “I want you to promise me a life,” she whispered so softly he barely heard her. She slowly sat back up and searched the gloom of the hut warily. “Akhila!” Akintunde hissed quietly and also glanced about fearfully. It was strictly taboo to speak of future lives, and a well-known harbinger of ill luck. If an attentive god should hear, whether good or evil, they just might strike you dead so that you could quickly begin the new life you so coveted. Akhila flinched, but quickly regained her resolve. “I’m afraid Tunde,” she admitted and then leaned closer and lowered her voice. “They could all be gone…or dead. One life…just one full life…promise.” Akintunde paused, straining his senses in an attempt to detect the presence of a god. Of course he failed, but his eyes scanned the interior of the hut quickly nevertheless. “I promise,” he mouthed and a wave of dread swept through him. Spanning the breadth of recorded history, this timeless historical saga follows two unfortunate souls across the globe in their never-ending quest to fulfill a promise of love and life. Through the Polynesian South Pacific, to the tribal lands of the Iceni in early Britain, fortune contrives again and again to keep the entangled souls apart. From war-torn Japan in the twelfth century, to the mountainous tea regions of Darjeeling, Bengal the two lovers struggle to reunite. Until finally, in the fertile fields of the American Midwest, the story culminates in ways even destiny could not have imagined.