Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit, their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "What was I here" Mitch Albom is an author, playwright, and screenwriter who has written seven books, including the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie , the bestselling memoir of all time. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven , was an instant number one New York Times bestseller that has since sold more than six million copies worldwide. Both books were made into acclaimed TV films. Mitch also works as a columnist and a broadcaster, and serves on numerous charitable boards. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan. "I'm especially proud to have an audio version of this book, since it harkens back to the way my first stories came to me--not by the written page, but by other people's voices." That's Mitch Albom himself in his introduction. This writer's commitment to the aural tradition is clearly demonstrated in the sophistication with which his book is presented. Erik Singer's virtuoso performance is set off with musical interludes and background noises that are diverting but never distracting. The teaching parable is built around an 83-year-old war vet turned maintenance man who dies trying to save the life of a little girl. This is at the Ruby Point Amusement Park. "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time..." B.H.C. 2004 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine