Three novels by Clay Berry in a Trilogy of Hope
First Novel in the Clay Barry Mental Health Series
Talented New York City financiers Aimee and Terrance Baxter are positioned on a clear path to success. But their anticipated rise is soon frustrated with the arrival of their daughter Tamara who shows early signs of a serious mental disorder.
Certain she can manage Tamara’s illness herself, Aimee refused professional help. Her denial leads the family down a road they never saw coming. Husband Terrance is increasingly frustrated and isolated, as he watches his daughter Tamara spiral ever deeper into the endless rage she expresses in demonic drawings that let us glimpse her anguish.
A trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire offers a path to recovery. Through the love of an old farm woman named Barb, the family begins to find healing and redemption.
Through a Shattered Looking-glass is an impressionistic expression of an experience that defies simple portrayal. Readers witness the shadowy regions of family strife brought on by mental illness, yet the story offers powerful hope.
Clay Berry lives with his wife, Beth, in Wakefield, Rhode Island where Clay has served as pastor of the Wakefield Baptist Church for over twenty years. Clay was recently awarded the Doctor of Worship Studies degree from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies. His thesis examined connections between worship and healing.
A Place of New Beginnings is book three in a series of novels which address issues of mental suffering and the restoration of hope.
The emotional struggles Tamara Baxter endured as a child in New York City (described in Berry’s first novel, Through a Shattered Looking-glass) began to subside as she moved to a dying farm in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and placed herself in the care an elderly woman named Barb Fletcher. In Those Frightening Things You Should Let Win, Tamara’s newfound faith flourished under Barb’s sensitive and prayerful guidance as she tended a small flock of lambs. Her positive experience of the Blossom’s Rest community was so transformative she convinced Barb that the Fletcher farm should be repurposed to become a place of healing for others who suffer like her.
In A Place of New Beginnings, Tamara learns that living in community is arduous work fraught with challenges that continue to threaten her recovery, one of which, surprisingly, is falling in love. Yet with the help of that same community, she discovers hidden sources of grace that yield forth new life in wondrous ways.
Proceeds from the sale of these novels will be donated to two therapeutic farming communities dedicated to serving those struggling with mental and emotional suffering: Harvest Acres Farm in Richmond, Rhode Island (harvestacresfarm.org) and Gould Farm in Monterey, Massachusetts (gouldfarm.org).
His second novel in the trilogy.
Those Frightening Things You Should Let Win is the second in Pastor Clay Berry’s series of novels exploring issues of mental suffering and the restoration of hope.
Beginning in Through a Shattered Looking-glass, Tamara Baxter’s story continues as the teenager from New York City seeks healing from the mental disorders she has suffered since early childhood.
As she matures, Tamara takes a personal initiative in her recovery and returns to the small village of Blossom’s Rest, New Hampshire. There, tending a few lambs teaches her as much about the recovery of hope as the supportive people surrounding her do. Adopted into this farming community by her elderly mentor, Barb, Tamara is introduced to the strengthening mysteries of prayer and discovers new meaning through the hard work required to care for the farm and her neighbors in need.