Jo Swinney

JO SWINNEY was born in West Sussex but grew up in Algarve, Portugal with her parents and three siblings. She went to boarding school in the UK and took a GAP year in Zimbabwe before coming back to the UK for university. Jo then went on to do a Masters in Christian Studies at Regent College, Vancouver where she met her husband.

This is Jo's first book and she was prompted to write it from her own experience of having depression as a Christian and finding her attitudes changing dramatically. She realised she was not the only one to find it very challenging to reconcile depression with her faith and she wanted to help others on the same journey. Jo says ' Through the Dark Woods is part personal narrative, and part reflection on related issues - what depression does to relationships, your faith, how to support someone with depression, whether you can get better... It does not seek to give easy answers or quick fix solutions, but rather opens up areas for thought.'

In her spare time, Jo enjoys painting and sketching, reading, art galleries, spending time with friends, good food and wine and playing with her cat Ella. She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband Shawn.

Praise for Through the Dark Woods

'She writes engagingly and takes you to places that are familiar to every human being.'
James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool

'A wonderfully honest and compassionate book, drawn from the depths of experience. I warmly recommend it.'
Murray Watts, author and playwright

'Compellingly readable, in delicious bite-sized chunks. Her sparkling humour is allied to down-to-earth practical tips. A real gift to people with depression and their families and friends.'
Dr Maureen Wilkinson, consultant psychiatrist, Wirral

'Engaging, painfully honest, lively... Accessible and challenging at many different levels.'
Prof E. David Cook, Wheaton College, Illinois; Fellow, Green College, Oxford