n this unflinching look at depression and the human struggle to find hope in its midst, acclaimed author Tim Farrington writes with heartrending honesty of his lifelong struggle with the condition he calls "a hell of mercy." With both wry humor and poignancy, he unravels the profound connection between depression and the spiritual path, the infamous dark night of the soul made popular by mystic John of the Cross. While depression can be a heartbreaking time of isolation and lethargy, it can also provide powerful spiritual insights and healing times of surrender. When doctors prescribe medication, patients are often left feeling as if part of their very selves has been numbed in order to become what some might call "normal." Farrington wrestles with profound questions, such as: When is depression a part of your identity, and when does it hold you back from realizing your potential?
In the tradition of Darkness Visible and An Unquiet Mind, A Hell of Mercy is both a much needed companion for those walking this difficult terrain as well as a guide for anyone who has watched a loved one grapple with this inner emotional darkness.
Tim Farrington is the author of Lizzie's War, The Monk Downstairs,—a New York Times Notable Book—and The Monk Upstairs, as well as the critically acclaimed novels The California Book of the Dead and Blues for Hannah.
What People are Saying About This
Julia Cameron
“With a poet’s eye and a seeker’s heart, Tim Farrington explores the often-interwoven threads of spirituality and depression. Farrington is both a guide and a muse: his honesty invites introspection and hope.”
Eric Wilson
“This book, as lyrical as it is profound, is a brilliant testament to that most enduring of hopes—out of death grows life. For all of us craving salvation, this is essential reading, a mysterious atlas of the sacred.”
Kathleen Norris
“{A} welcome addition to the conversation about the thorny relationship between faith, depression and mental illness...appealingly modest and practical, relying not on intractable ideologies but on shared stories and voices of experience.”
Richard Lewis
“So many of the passages and insights written by Tim Farrington in his astonishing work so surpassed my own writing on the same subject, that it catapulted me into the darkest depression of my life. Fortunately, I quickly reread his book and saw the light.”
Darcey Steinke
“These days that there is meaning in suffering is not a particularly popular position. But Tim Farrington with intellectual rigor and great candor lays out his relationship to both religious suffering and clinical solutions. A Hell of Mercy is an important book.”
