FEELING FATE

Featuring a sprinkling of the paranormal, this memoir pays tribute to a woman’s soul mate—who died too early—and the love they shared.

Sensel and Tony Alferio, both in their 50s, were not looking for love when they met in June 2013 in the St. Maarten airport headed for a diving excursion. She was a decade past a painful divorce. Tony was married to a woman who was in the late stages of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and the author considered him “off limits.” But a month later, irresistible magnetism led them to become inextricably bound to each other even though Sensel lived in Washington state and Tony, in Kentucky. The author depicts the dramatic moment in Maui that cemented their love affair, a moment that she intuitively felt was a bargain offered by the universe—she could have him now, but their time together would be short. As they relaxed in bed, she placed her hand on his chest, and he became emotionally overwhelmed. “What did you just do there?” he asked. “It felt like you reached in and poked at my heart. I felt you touch it. What was that?” She intriguingly describes this episode as the universe applying a “patch” to his undiagnosed enlarged heart, giving them time together ordained by fate. Less than four years later, Tony died in his sleep from a massive heart attack. The first half of Sensel’s tender memoir is composed as a letter to Tony and is filled with recollections of the joyfulness and wonder of their nearly four-year “honeymoon.” She is a captivating writer, articulate and mystical, without the usual preachiness, which makes her work accessible to a broad audience of those seeking comfort. Bringing readers along on her difficult journey through grief, she provides useful advice in the book’s second half for the bereaved as well as for those consoling them. She advocates trusting your intuition—if you feel the presence of a spirit, it does not matter if it is authentic or imaginary, the experience is real for you.

A poignant, engaging guide to healing that’s infused with valuable insights into dealing with grief.