The Light in the Dark
A Winter Journal
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Wales Creative Nonfiction Book of the Year 2019 Rediscover the light in the dark… 'A treasure of a book, wonderfully attentive in outlook and generous in spirit.' – Amy Liptrot As November stubs out the glow of autumn and the days tighten into shorter hours, winter's occupation begins. Preparing for winter has its own rhythms, as old as our exchanges with the land. Of all the seasons, it draws us together. But winter can be tough. It is a time of introspection, of looking inwards. Seasonal sadness; winter blues; depression – such feelings are widespread in the darker months. But by looking outwards, by being in and observing nature, we can appreciate its rhythms. Mountains make sense in any weather. The voices of a wood always speak consolation. A brush of frost; subtle colours; days as bright as a magpie's cackle. We can learn to see and celebrate winter in all its shadows and lights. In this moving and lyrical evocation of a British winter and the feelings it inspires, Horatio Clare raises a torch against the darkness, illuminating the blackest corners of the season, and delving into memory and myth to explore the powerful hold that winter has on us. By learning to see, we can find the magic, the light that burns bright at the heart of winter: spring will come again. __________ 'The natural world has life and light on even the coldest darkest days of winter and that is Clare's salvation.' – Susan Hill, Daily Mail Christmas Books 'Magical, moving and deeply atmospheric' – Patrick Barkham A Guardian 'best book of 2018'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Themes of the natural world and of mental health are juxtaposed in this reflective, lyrical work from memoirist Clare (Running for the Hills) that charts one winter as endured in northern England. "Last winter, I thought I would go mad with depression," he admits, thanks to "the absence of light and the feeling of living in an ugly country, streaming roofs, weeping windows, dank inside and out." Clare explores the fulfillment he finds in his roles as a father, a teacher, and a husband, as well as the worries he feels about succeeding in these roles under the weight of depression, that "terrible disabler," which makes "you constantly pause and doubt and disbelieve." Through his struggles, his rock is his wife, Rebecca, whose resilience moves him to muse that "it is dreadful to live with the depressed, and astonishing to live with someone dealing with it as Rebecca does." Above all, Clare vividly conveys his impressions of winter, whether the joy of a snow storm ("weather that overwhelms, subordinating all human plans. It lays white, thrilling drifts over the gloom") or the "cruel hostility" of mornings when one awakens to find "sleet falling, the sky grown grey and cold to overflowing." By the end, too, he has found a measure of peace, thanks both to professional help and his journaling. Clare beautifully captures the changeability of both the seasons and the human mind.
