Spring cleaning for the soul: David Rawlings challenges readers to clean out their personal baggage
In a similar vein to The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews and Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory, The Baggage Handler (Thomas Nelson) is a modern-day parable about the burdens that weigh us down. In the new novel, debut author David Rawlings issues readers an inspiring invitation to lighten the load and do some “spring cleaning” for their lives.
“My hope is that The Baggage Handler gets people thinking—and talking—about the baggage they may have been carrying,” said Rawlings. “It’s easy for us to identify the baggage others carry but seeing what’s holding us back can sometimes be a big blind spot.
“I don’t believe baggage is just a modern topic either,” Rawlings continues. “We all know the parable of the prodigal son, who has to face his own issues before returning home. Jesus told stories as an engaging way of revealing universal truth in a relevant way.”
The Baggage Handler follows three characters who mistakenly take the wrong suitcase from baggage claim: A hothead businessman coming to the city for a showdown meeting to save his job. A mother of three hoping to survive the days at her sister’s house before her niece’s wedding. And a young artist pursuing his father’s dream so he can keep his own alive.
The airline directs the trio to retrieve their bags at a mysterious facility in a deserted part of the city. There, they meet the enigmatic Baggage Handler, who shows them there is more in their baggage than what they have packed and carrying it with them is slowing them down in ways they can’t imagine.
Rawlings hails from Adelaide, Australia, but he notes his story’s themes reach beyond borders. “This is a universal story that could take place in Nashville, or New York, or London or Sydney,” says Rawlings. “Baggage is a concept we all recognize regardless of culture or heritage. We perhaps have different ways of acknowledging or burying it, but it’s something that is almost universal to the human experience.”
David Rawlings is an Australian author, and a sports-mad father of three who loves humor and a clever turn of phrase. Over a 25-year career he has put words on the page to put food on the table, from sports journalism and copywriting to corporate communication. Now in fiction, he entices readers to look deeper into life with stories that combine the everyday with a sense of the speculative, addressing the fundamental questions we all face.