Winter suffocated me, tore me to pieces. And in that white darkness, I saw the possibility of putting myself back together. Sometimes our lives lose direction. A sudden illness, the death of a loved one, a breakup, job loss, or another unpredictable event can turn our world upside down. Most of us then face a long, lonely period during which we cope with losses, experience pain, and slowly bounce back from the bottom. Katherine May calls these difficult times hibernation — her own hibernation was triggered by health issues, her husband's illness, and her son's difficulties at school. The book is a personal narrative about the transformative power of rest, interwoven with lessons from mythology and nature. The author urges us to change our relationship with periods of dormancy — even our own sadness can be embraced actively, and relief can come not only from deep seclusion but also from understanding life as a cyclical alternation, rather than a linear progression.
