NEW BOOK: Sometimes when things seem to be better they really aren’t

When things seem to be better, sometimes they really aren’t
Life springs up all around, but will the darkness overcome it?
A struggle with darkness, without and within
Will spring – will hope – ever arrive?
Profound, sensitive sequel to A Christmas Calling

Some people find the short days and darkness of winter difficult to cope with. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a recognised condition in which people experience depression, believed to be caused by a lack of exposure to sunlight.

There is another darkness, one which people often carry around inside them. We live in a society that is overrun with people’s personal darknesses, perhaps ones caused by a struggle to understand their own past.

Many need to know that if you have a guide to help you, there is hope, even in multiple and deep darknesses, like a literal journey through winter towards spring, towards a brighter day.

That theme is a very personal one for A Spring Awakening’s main character, David Sourbook, who, in Chris Cottee’s previous novel, A Christmas Calling, thought his problems were behind him. In this sequel, he suffers unhappy relationships and trouble even with the law and the church.

In order to reach a place of hope, akin to the glorious freshness of spring, he has to endure the emerging darknesses of his own past and soul. He encounters ones that are spiritual and psychological, of many kinds, darknesses that have to be exposed and faced, with the help of his close friend Angela, his church friends, a counsellor and God. But is David stumbling towards the light – or into the night?

‘Spring is such a hopeful time,’ writes Chris, ‘and the high glories of carefree summer beckon as hibernation ends. But once Christmas is over, to get to it, you have to go through the depths of winter – dark and bitter days; fearful, lonely nights. Some never make it. Maybe hope is a slippery thing, and a man as broken as David cannot be fixed in a week. Perhaps no person can.’