White Bird

An accidental death launches a brother into strange, foreign adventures Thomas is a laid-back handyman until his mother asks him to go to Kathmandu and scatter the ashes of his older brother Paul. He is totally unprepared for travel, especially to exotic Nepal. He uncovers Paul's past as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal. There was a lover, Helen, who stayed behind to embrace Buddhism. Her parents are still there working with Tibetan refugees. He meets Eike, an unlikely Buddhist shaman, or healer. He dabbles in meditation and Tantric sex, flirts with Helen, and makes some big mistakes. The ashes are one issue. The other is Paul's soul, the "white bird," trapped in the bardo, the state between death and rebirth. Spiritual dramas cross the world, dragging Thomas' soul into new territory.