Pictured is the book “In the House of Rising Sounds” by Stephen Copeland. Photo provided.
Pictured is the book “In the House of Rising Sounds” by Stephen Copeland. Photo provided.
Grace College & Seminary graduate Stephen Copeland’s new book talks about what he calls “thin places.”

“In the House of Rising Sounds” was seven years in the making and was released by WIPF and Stock Publishers last week, Copeland said. The idea of the book started after a friend took him to the Double Door Inn, Charlotte, N.C., and he fell in love with the inn.

He said he began feeling seriously connected to the music and to the environment. He said there are many names for that type of experience. The Celts called it "thin places," where heaven and earth come strangely close to touching.

When he heard the inn was closing after 46 years in business, Copeland, who now lives in North Carolina, decided it was time to write his book. In order to do so, he went to the inn several times a week, journalled his experienced and talked to staff.

While the book is centered around the Double Door Inn, there are numerous passages in the book about the "thinness" of Indiana and the Midwest, he said. Copeland said he writes a lot about Indiana due to the fact he grew up in central Indiana.

Copeland said he had those type of experiences in Winona Lake when he was going to Grace and working at the college for several years after graduation, as well.

The book's aim is to help readers become more present and attentive to "thin places" all around them, no matter where they live. He said the Double Door Inn taught him the most unassuming places can be the “thin places.”

While experiencing those places, Copeland said, for a moment, life is beautiful. Copeland’s experience at the Double Door Inn made him confront all the ways he wasn’t free and to fix that.

Copeland said the book is more a philosophical and theological look to connecting to Heaven. He said his book is not just for Christians, but is for all people.

He hopes people can connect with his book and become more aware of the “thin places” around them.

Copeland will be hosting a release party at Books & Brews, Brownsburg, at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“In the House of Rising Sounds” is available where books are sold, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and on the publisher’s website at https://wipfandstock.com/9781666752403/in-the-house-of-rising-sounds/.