The Brightest Darkness by Chelsea Beck

Chelsea Beck wrote her memoir, The Brightest Darkness to help raise awareness of mental illnesses and to increase compassion for its sufferers. She is very much the healthcare worker, gently carrying readers through her life with kindness and compassion. She stops at both the joyful and grim parts of life, coming to terms with her bipolar disorder and sexual orientation.

Growing up in a happy family and an affluent Bay Area neighborhood, Chelsea had little to worry about in her life. She spent many of her formable years in Catholic school, which unfortunately resulted in a hefty dose of internalized homophobia that would linger for years. In college, Chelsea experiences a traumatic event that triggers the building mania and depressive episodes that would then go unchecked for a long time.

What shines about The Brightest Darkness is Chelsea's compassion for others. She makes a strong point about the failures of the healthcare and justice system and how it lets so many fall through the cracks. Wealthy white people are more likely to be acquitted and treated while people of color often end up incarcerated. She has a supportive family and friends and is one of the lucky ones.

The Brightest Darkness is a short and entertaining book that touches on a lot of the stigma surrounding mental illness that often leads to misinformation and mistreatment of its sufferers. She comes to terms with her past attitudes towards patients in her care considered the "crazy patients." Her experiences with bipolar disorder make her feel more connected to these patients because of what she has gone through.

If there is one lesson of the many to learn in The Brightest Darkness, it would be to always treat people with kindness. You never know what someone is going through. If you or a loved one have struggled with a mental health condition or want a better perspective on the topic, Chelsea Beck's The Brightest Darkness is a perfect place to start.

Reviewed on Reedsy

Saxon Heroines: A Northumbrian Novel by Sandra Wagner-Wright

Sandra Wagner-Wright’s Saxon Heroines: A Northumbrian Novel is a story rich in the history of many centuries ago. During a time of constant shifts in power across Northumbria and what would later become England, Christianity is only just becoming embedded as the religion of choice in the region. Kings are renouncing Woden and embracing their divine right to rule.

Part of a series that tells the stories of lesser-known women in history, Saxon Heroines focuses on the stories of four women in seventh century Northumbria. Split into three parts, the book focuses in each on a different woman of early Saxon history. First is Ethelberga of Kent, who becomes the new Queen of Northumbria in 624, and tasked with converting the king to Christianity. Then the focuses shifts to Ethelberga’s daughter Enfleda in the second part, and Enfleda’s daughter Elfleda in the third. Throughout the entire book, the life of Hildeburg is told from her role in King Edwin’s court to her holy life as the Abbess of Streoneshalh. Each of these women lived and died long ago, but they had a profound effect on history.

Readers who love history will enjoy the exhilarating effect of being transported back several centuries to a much more changeling way of life. With few detailed historical records of seventh-century Northumbria, Wagner-Wright does the impossible task of filling in between the lines of history. She takes what these ancient historians have recorded about these four women tells their stories as accurately as possible. These women were, like Wagner-Wright writes, “present but not visible” so the few things recorded about them were their titles, who they married, and who their children were. With these few facts, Ethelberga, Enfleda, Elfleda, and Hildeburg have their own voices. Ones that have not been heard for many years in this way.

The front and back matter of the book are just as important as the body of the text and are just as much of the story as the story itself. A story like Saxon Heroines that is heavily based in history needs added material for readers to reference. Readers may get lost and confused as the story moves more rapidly through time in the latter two parts, and may need help to differentiate between similar name. In her author’s note, Wagner-Wright adds even more historical context to the events of the story and reveals what happens in the years following the last chapter.

Saxon Heroines: A Northumbian Novel is the perfect book for readers of history and of Christian fiction and non-fiction. Set is a time in which Christianity was taking hold across the region, the women of Saxon Heroines each play a pivotal role in the making of history.

Published version here

Night Rain, Tokyo by John Feist

A fast-paced political thriller, Night Rain, Tokyo is more than just bureaucratic intrigue. Brad Oaks is in Washington D.C. trying to get the Wishbone Pipeline project off the ground for Elgar Steel. Before he can make much progress in his task, he is called home by the news of the death of his boss and mentor, Ernie Elgar. Twin sisters Sarah and June Elgar are at odds about the Wishbone pipeline project. After their father’s death, the sisters have inherited control over Elgar Steel. But soon, they discover they have another sister in Tokyo. Brad is then sent across the world to meet with Amaya Mori to buy her Elgar Steel shares, but he quickly becomes caught in the crosshairs of international politics and his own heart.

Night Rain Tokyo is a heart-pounding, pulse-racing, political thriller that deals with the importance of family, identity, and love in an ever-increasingly complex world. John Feist pulls from his own experience in law and government relations, adding in the realities of bureaucratic hurdles, and this gives the plot a great touch of authenticity. In short, readers searching for an international, high-stakes political crime thriller that hits all the marks, look no further. Feist’s storytelling is smart. However, Feist understands there is more to an authentic political story than lobbying politicians and negotiating international business deals.

At the heart of Night Rain, Tokyo is the personal struggles of its characters. Amaya has lived her whole life as an outsider in her own culture, while Brad is opening his heart again years after a significant loss. The Elgar sisters are at odds and struggle to maintain their familial bond at the cost of achieving their desired outcome for the Wishbone pipeline project. In real life, there is always more than just what is on the surface, and Night Rain, Tokyo is much more than the international Wishbone project.

Many listeners may recognize the voice of Michael Kramer as the narrator. Kramer has had a prolific audiobook career lending his voice to over a hundred audiobooks. In Night Rain, Tokyo Kramer uses his signature intensity and reads with a consistent strong sense of mystery. Some listeners may feel his narration comes across as indifferent to the story and its characters. Kramer’s tone is perfect for the more political parts of the plot, but for the more character-driven portions of the story, it does not work as well.

Night Rain, Tokyo is the first book in his political thriller series, and he sets the bar high. Readers will not want to miss the next book, Blind Trust, and the just-released third book, Debt and Doubt.

Check out the Chanticleer review here.