I was talking with a reader this morning, and Mary said she appreciated the booklist I included at the end of the novel. (It's in the Acknowledgments section at the end of the book.) Then she said that, as she thought more about Dante's experiences, the book was in a layman's way a survey of eastern mysticism. She's right. Mary herself is well read in Tao and Zen, so I was gld to get the feedback. I hope you and other readers will read the books listed in my Ackowledgments.