Bergen Spring

"[A] beautiful adventure into the mysteries and miracles of life."-Todd Gold, New York Times best selling author

"Bergen Spring is a beautifully written story about grief, love, guilt, and the artist's journey as he explores his ancestral past in a search for personal identity."-Matt Goldman, New York Times best-selling author and Emmy Award-winning television writer

"Erik Hellberg's grief-laden, solo journey through Europe affirms that we never truly travel alone, even when we feel alone. Our lives are filled with people who teach us something along the way. For Erik's journey of self-discovery, the people who weave in and out of his life give him the courage to love, lose, and let go."-Sherry Robinson, author of Shadows Hold Their Breath (Kirkus Starred Review)

Michael Cummings's exquisitely crafted coming-of-age, debut novel, Bergen Spring, set in the aftermath of the tumultuous 1960s, explores the personal-and universal-struggle of the human spirit to manifest itself truthfully.

Twenty-year-old Erik Hellberg yearns to leave his small Midwestern town in the Unites States and travel to Norway, the land of his ancestors, where he hopes to discover his true self. Six months before his departure, Erik's beloved brother is killed in the Vietnam War, sending Erik on a downward spiral of guilt for not doing more to protect him. The obstacles that Erik encounters hitchhiking across northern Europe en route to Norway do nothing to mitigate his sense of culpability. 

Once in Norway, Erik struggles to learn the language and find employment. After he manages to secure work at a theater, he steps into a world where he is unwanted and ostracized-yet one where he believes he belongs. It is not until Erik is befriended by the alluring young actress Katarina that he begins to understand the mysterious pull of Norway's people and culture. As their friendship deepens, Katarina confronts Erik about many of his firmly held beliefs and he is forced to examine the guilt he carries over his brother's death-ultimately compelling him to reexamine his entire life.

The story of Bergen Spring reaches its pinnacle in the quaint and breathtakingly beautiful seaside town of Bergen, where, for a few magical weeks every spring, the ubiquitous rain pauses and flowers blanket the surrounding mountains and valleys.