WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!

Need some hope in these trying times? Then John Gray has the book for you.

Gray, news anchor for WXXA-FOX TV 23 and ABC’S WTEN News Channel 10, ties together romance, kindness and the paranormal — all with an added Christian twist — in his debut novel, “Manchester Christmas.”

“It was a process, but I am excited now to see where it’s going,” Gray said.

Based in Manchester, Vt., “Manchester Christmas” follows a young writer drawn to the small New England town in search of a greater life purpose. During her stay, she is intrigued by an old, abandoned church as well as the death of a special town girl. Pulled into the mystery of the church, the woman begins to notice moving images in the stained-glass church windows, images that only she can see. As she tries to unravel what these messages might mean, she wonders if she can use what she is seeing to help heal the hurting community.

“I like the idea of people who are unexpectedly being used in a positive way,” Gray explained. His main character, despite being non-religious, is the only one who can see the stained-glass images.

“One of my favorite stories in the Bible is of Matthew, the tax collector, who wants to be one of Jesus’ 12 (disciples),” Gray said. Jesus picks Matthew to follow him despite his position as an unrighteous tax collector. Gray uses that same message in his book, showing that even the most unlikely of characters can be called by God to help those in need.

WRITING HIS FIRST NOVEL

A lifelong Catholic and native to the Albany Diocese, Gray grew up attending St. Joseph’s Church in Troy, a historic parish renowned for its collection of stained-glass windows. As a child, Gray recalls his attention drifting to stare at the beautiful windows during Mass, adding that he “was fascinated by these beautiful churches.”

Then, a few years ago, Gray had a dream of someone sitting in a church looking up the stained-glass windows. As the person stared, things began to change in the windows right before their eyes. The person asked around if anyone else had seen the changes, but the movements were visible only to them.

“I woke up and I was like, ‘What was that? That would be an interesting idea for a story,’ ” he said.

Gray is no stranger to the art of storytelling; his writing and reporting skills won him an Emmy Award in 2013, made him a renowned local columnist and an author of three children’s books. But writing a novel was uncharted territory: “I didn’t even know if I could do it,” he said.

“With a novel you’re putting in a couple hundred hours and a couple months of your life,” Gray said. “It is scary to think of putting in that kind of time when there is no guarantee anything would come of it.”

Gray began writing in January 2020 and switched to part-time hours at News Channel 10 until May to focus on his book. Then, two weeks after he started writing, one of his co-workers died. “She was a writer and it really weighed on my mind,” he said.

Gray wanted to incorporate his colleague into the story somehow and decided to name a character after her: “A subplot of my book is this character dying and how it could affect so many people,” he said. “I checked with her parents to make sure they were OK with that. The character dies but she’s very much alive in the story, and she’s helping in a way even though she’s gone.”

Gray will use a part of the novel’s earnings to establish a scholarship in his co-worker’s name at Shenendehowa High School, her alma mater. The $1,000 scholarship will go to a student interested in writing, art or theater. “My only criteria was I don’t want the smartest kid in school, I want the nicest student who works hard to get the scholarship,” Gray said.

MOVIE IN THE WORKS

After a summer of editing, Gray’s novel was published by Paraclete Press, which previously published his three children’s books: “God Needed a Puppy,” “Keller’s Heart” and “Sweet Polly Petals,” which just came out in October.

For a project with no guarantee at the start, things were looking promising. Then everything kicked up a notch when Gray connected with Brian Herzlinger, a writer and movie director from Hollywood. Herzlinger is best known for directing “My Date with Drew” (2004), as well as “Meet My Valentine” (2015) and “Twinkle All the Way” (2019), a Lifetime Christmas movie he co-wrote.

“I sent him a message and he got back to me a few days later and said can you talk to me Thursday morning,” he said. Gray was expecting the phone call to be a rejection from the director. Instead, Herzlinger said, “I love this book and I want to acquire the movie rights to it.”

The idea of his book being brought to life on the screen is still “surreal” for Gray to imagine. “To think these characters I can create in my little room in my house on a computer, that maybe I’ll turn on the TV and hear them speaking my words is just insane to me,” Gray said. “It’s hard to believe (and) it’s still a long way to go.”

He added that at its heart, the book’s message is “one of hope and helping each other out in a tough time, and looking around you and getting involved if (someone) needs help. One thing all these characters seem to do with each other is reach out to try and help each other, and sometimes it takes a stranger to say this is how it should be, and then they realize that.”

Manchester Christmas will be released on Dec. 18. Pre-order a copy now by visiting www.amazon.com and searching ‘Manchester Christmas.’