When Darkness Seems My Closest Friend

‘I’m looking for the words and writing for those who can’t imagine the words.’ Mark Meynell articulates a heart pain that most of us simply couldn’t express. He connects strongly and immediately with fellow cave dwellers. We relive significant moments from boarding school, Uganda, Berlin and London. We visit the Psalms, Job and The Pilgrim's Progress. If you're after neat conclusions and a fair-weather faith, this is not for you. This book serves up gritty reality and raw honesty, but also the heartfelt hope that the author's brokenness 'can somehow contribute to another person's integration' and 'inspire their clinging while beset by darkness or fog or blizzards'. Contents 1 The mask 2 The volcano 3 The cave 4 The weight 5 The invisibility cloak 6 The closing 7 The way 8 The fellow-traveller 9 The gift Appendix 1 Managing the symptoms Appendix 2 Unexpected friends in the cave Appendix 3 Some words from inside the cave

A brave and compassionate look at mental illness that offers theological understanding and personal insights from author's experiences.

The "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Beautiful Lies" delivers a thriller about broken trust that explores our faith in those we rely on--and how that faith can sustain or shatter us.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

Ten years after her alcoholic husband disappears on the same week her best friend is brutally murdered, Risa marries another man only to be confronted by her first husband, who shocks their Pennsylvania community with claims that he is the murderer, compelling Risa to risk everything to discover the truth.

This chilling and beautifully written true story tells of a woman who unravels the murder of a childhood friend and finds a tangle of lies. A disturbingly intense look at murder, and a feminist view of a neglectful legal and social system.

Focus on the amazing story of Jesus' crucifixion and the gospel in days and weeks leading up to Easter and think yet again how the cross transforms our lives today. With Bible verses, prayers and 40 meditations by Chris Wright and treasured, timeless nuggets from John Stott, prepare to be inspired as you contemplate the deep, life-transforming truths of the gospel: 'love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all'. Our Radical Reconciler * forgives sins * reconciles enemies * destroys death * defeats evil * governs history * restores creation

The author of A Killing Frost continues his bestselling series. “Marsden’s style is as surefooted as his independent band of teens.”—School Library Journal Ellie and her friends had been rescued. Airlifted out of their own country to the safe haven of New Zealand, they’d arrived burnt and injured and shocked, with broken bones, and scars inside and out. They did not want to go back. But five months later the war is not over, the nightmares continue, and there are two compelling reasons for them to return: a planned sabotage of the air base in Wirrawee and, most important, the families they left behind. In this episode of the tale begun in Tomorrow, When the War Began and continued in The Dead of Night and A Killing Frost, John Marsden takes us back to Hell, the outpost for a group of teens in a war-ravaged country. “Ellie is a solid narrator whose no-nonsense approach to love, war, and friendship makes her an unusual and impressive female protagonist. A personalized war novel that is apocalyptic yet open-ended enough for another sequel, Darkness benefits from not being limited to fitting into any one genre, but satisfactorily including aspects of several.”—Booklist “Contains as much riveting suspense and cliffhanger chapter endings as the first three.”—The Horn Book