It was an unexpected email that elevated Renu Sharma-Persaud to heights unmatched by even the Matterhorn.

“I was on vacation in Switzerland when I got an email saying my book The Mastery of You won a Readers’ Favorite award,” the UWindsor sessional lecturer said. “I thought I was getting someone else’s mail and it just made the vacation so much better when I realized it was true.”

Dr. Sharma-Persaud’s book won the silver medal in the category of non-fiction cultural for the Readers’ Favorite awards.

Readers' Favorite describes itself as the "fastest growing book review and award contest site on the Internet" and looks at authors from around the world.

Sharma-Persaud said The Mastery of You takes its reader on a journey of self-discovery to help develop inner self-confidence.

“I had a very important experience very early on in life that triggered my interest in the area of self-worth,” Sharma-Persaud said, emphasizing that it was her research into self-worth that inspired the book. “I had this trigger, I researched it, and now I am able to practise what my findings were as an educator.”

She said the book should help readers progress to “be the best that they can be.

“A beauty of my book is that it gives concrete examples of how to do that.”

The book is available for purchase at the Campus Bookstore or for borrowing from Leddy Library. Sharma-Persaud will sign copies of her book in the Bookstore on Wednesday, November 22, at 12:30 p.m.