The Colour Of Hope

Waterstones Scottish Children’s Book of the Month Years ago, the Emperor used dark magic to steal all the colour from the world. Now he keeps it for himself, enjoying its life-giving power while everyone else must exist in cold shades of grey. That is, until a miracle baby is born – everything she touches turns to colour. But the child’s life is in danger from her very first breath. Soon the Emperor’s murderous Ripper Dogs and Black Coats come hunting. Can the girl and her adopted father survive in the forest – and what will it take to return colour and hope to the world?

The Colour Of Hope is a poetry collection with happiness at its heart. The 45 poems inside were created during lockdown, at a time when finding beauty and comfort in the everyday seemed at once fraught with difficulty and vitally important. Each was written for a specific recipient, based on three things they guaranteed would make them feel happy. I received a wonderful range of briefs. From the beautifully universal – a longing for nature and freedom, time spent with family, summers spent in other lands – to the gloriously specific – snaffling a Toffee Crisp from the fridge late at night, Fleetwood Mac songs, foam banana sweets, and Ceilidh dancing. The result is a collection of poems that serves both as a record of this intense and intensely strange year, and as an uplifting reading experience that will connect and resonate with a much wider audience than the individuals they were initially written for. 2020 will be one for the history books, a year that has created emergencies on many fronts, not least the emotional. 60% of adults, and 68% of young people in the UK reported a decline in their mental health during lockdown. Mental health charities are working harder than ever to provide support to the vulnerable and in need, and every little helps. As such, £2 from the sale of this book will be donated to Mind, to help provide a bit of light in these uncertain times. Hope comes in many shapes and colours, and it’s my hope that you’ll find some of your own pieces of happiness, comfort and, yes, hope within these pages.

For Ruth Connelly, a summer in her coastal family home in Maine means a chance to reconnect with her husband Paul and her two children. Ruth's 16-year-old daughter Josie has grown into a troubled young woman, and her behavior tears at the fabric holding the Connellys together. Ruth is determined to ride out the storm of her daughter's adolescence, but she's unprepared for the tragedy that strikes during a day of sailing. Martin's Press. (July)

The gulag memoirs of a brave woman, a distinguished dissident and poet--Ratushinskaya gives her account of the four years she spent in a "strict regime" labor camp at Barashevo, where she endured several types of abuse.

Ruth Connelly's idyllic life unravels one summer when her relationships with husband Paul and troubled sixteen-year-old daughter Josie become strained, a situation that is complicated by a nightmarish accident during her son's birthday sailing trip.

The history of film students from the Global South who studied in Poland during the Cold War. As Poland’s second-largest city, Łódź was a hub for international students who studied in Poland from the mid-1960s to 1989. The Łódź Film School, a member of CILECT since 1955, was a favored destination, with students from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East accounting for one-third of its international student body. Despite the school’s international reputation, the experience of its filmmakers from the Global South is little known beyond Poland. Hope Is of a Different Color addresses the history of student exchanges between the Global South and the Polish People’s Republic during the Cold War. It sheds light on the experiences and careers of a generation of young filmmakers at Łódź, many of whom went on to achieve success as artists in their home countries, and provides insight into emerging areas of research and race relations in Central and Eastern Europe. The essays reflect on these issues from multiple perspectives, considering sociology, political science, art, and film history. The book also features previously unpublished photographs and film stills from private archives along with visual and written material collected at the Łódź Film School.

The Christian life, says Richard Dahlstrom, should be guided by the intentional goal of blessing the lives of the friends, loved ones, and strangers in our midst. We are called to impact a culture that, for all the rhetoric about hope, is overwhelmingly preoccupied with personal peace, prosperity, protection, and survival. Christians should be artists who paint with the colors of hope in a broken world, embodying Christ's redemptive presence in our personal lives, our work, and our relationships. This inspiring and practical book offers tools for living out this vision in daily life, with special attention given to the challenges we face in staying focused on the mission of imparting hope to others even while dealing with our own personal issues. Anyone who wishes they could have an impact on the world will cherish this unique book.