Escape the Winter Blahs

February 11, 2013

The middle of winter is my least favorite time of year. Groundhog’s Day is supposed to indicate if we’ll have an early spring, but I am a skeptic. Then Lent begins. There’s a bright spot for Valentine’s Day, but it only lasts for 24 hours. While the winter feels a little bland and boring to me, I have found a partial solution to my case of winter blahs…

I immerse myself in fiction, living vicariously through its characters. This year I discovered Ken Follett’s The Century Trilogy. The first book is Fall of Giants. This historical fiction begins on the day that King George V was crowned at Westminster Abbey. The cast of characters live in the United States, England, Wales, Germany, or Russia. Follett doesn’t focus as much on the military battles as he paints a portrait of how each character is affected by the war and its aftermath. Fall of Giants helped me grasp a little of what daily life was like during that time period. I was surprised that the book, while depicting suffering, was full of hope.

I am in the middle of the second book in the trilogy: Winter of the World. The same families, living in the United States, England, Wales, Germany, or Russia are now facing the inevitability of World War II. Parents have aged, and children are now adults. I feel I know them. I escape the drab winter by curling up under a blanket and entering their world. I don’t want the book to end, because the third book in the trilogy, Edge of Eternity, isn’t scheduled to be published in late 2014.

I will probably be reading Edge of Eternity in early 2015 as I cope with my winter bah humbug attitude again.

~Bev F.
Parkville Branch