Talking to teens about Seasonal Affective Disorder, with author and librarian Anna Zoe Quirke

October 27th 2025

As the nights draw in, a proportion of the population will be worried about the exacerbating effects of darker days on their mental health. Yet, as author and librarian Anna Zoe Quirke highlights, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is rarely portrayed and explored in fiction, which only gives room for the dismissal and downplaying of this condition.

Anna Zoe Quirke joins us on the blog to talk about their latest book, Sad Girl Hours. This sweet and moving tale centres on two young women: one who struggles with SAD, and the other determined to show the joys of autumn and winter, leading to their blooming romance. Anna shares their authentic experience with SAD and their advice for teens to understand and manage their mental health, year round.

Anna Zoe Quirke | Author Anna Zoe Quirke is a queer and autistic author, librarian, and freelance writer from the North of England. They’ve written books, scripts, poetry (and much more). Their novel Something to be Proud of won the Northern Writers’ Award for Debut YA Fiction in 2022, was shortlisted for the PFD Queer Fiction Prize, was published with Little Tiger in June 2024, and was nominated for a Carnegie Award in 2025. DISCOVER BOOKS BY ANNA ZOE QUIRKE

Representing Seasonal Affective Disorder in young adult fiction

When I emailed my agent a couple of years ago with an idea for a new book about a character with seasonal affective disorder, she replied to say she thought it was a great idea but could I let her know other books that I’d read that had characters with the condition so that she could do some research. I replied in turn to say that I didn’t know of any. Not one. 
 
In Sad Girl Hours, one of our two main characters, Saffron, struggles to function in autumn and winter thanks to seasonal depression. The other main character, Nell, loves autumn and winter and comes up with a bucket list of seasonal activities to try and convince Saffron to love them too. But she doesn’t know that Saffron’s struggling with SAD because she’s afraid of scaring people away if she shows up without her perfect, shiny mask. 

Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder and how it affects teens

As a teenager, I dealt with a plethora of mental health conditions, all of which were exacerbated in autumn and winter thanks to my seasonal affective disorder. So when I realised that I’d never read a story that even mentioned it, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is often trivialised as just being a bit sad in the darker months (hence my slightly tongue-in-cheek title choice!). I wanted people to understand that it’s so much more than that, that it can become really quite debilitating, or can make concurrent issues debilitating. And, I wanted people who are dealing with it – as so many of us do – to feel seen and like their struggles were real and shared.

"I wanted people who are dealing with [Seasonal Affective Disorder] - as so many of us do - to feel seen and like their struggles were real and shared."

Supporting teen mental health all year round

As well as wanting to represent those of us with SAD, I wanted to share a few other messages around mental health, that I wish I’d known earlier.

1. There's no shame in asking for help

It’s made very clear in Sad Girl Hours that friendship, love, or fun seasonal activities can’t cure mental illness. Saffron has to learn that there’s nothing shameful in struggling. She also has to unlearn the idea that she'll be a burden to her friends, or that they won’t want to be around her if she can’t always be shiny and happy. And that even when she has the support of the people who love her, ultimately, she’s still depressed and she still has to make the decision for herself to get help with that.

2. There are different ways to help your mental health

I also wanted to make it very clear that there are many different ways to improve your mental health. Sometimes planning fun things, having things to look forward to is enough – still likely not to cure, but to at least help sand down some sharp edges. Sometimes opening up to people around us is enough, being honest and sharing how we feel and receiving comfort and support that way. Sometimes we might need more than that – therapy, medication, maybe. Or sometimes, in Saffron's case, we might need a little of all the above. There’s no one size fits all fix. Sometimes it takes a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks. 

3. You are not alone

Finally, if I may be allowed a vast oversimplification of things, the world doesn’t feel like a particularly kind place at the minute. As Saffron has to learn in Sad Girl Hours, we need other people. We need to show up in the world as whole, imperfect people who are prepared to do the work to look after our communities and to look after ourselves. Saffron thinks she’s alone in struggling and that she should stay alone so as not to impact others. What she eventually learns is that her friends either have or are struggling too, and she then feels a little silly for thinking herself quite so alone in her feelings.

"It's hard, sometimes, to see a way out. The people around us, or characters in books, movies, TV shows, might have a better view."

It’s hard, sometimes, to see a way out. But the people around us, or characters in books, movies, TV shows, might have a better view. The least we can do is let them hold our hands and show us the way, or wander around with us until we can see it ourselves. I hope that Sad Girl Hours finds its way into the hands of as many people who could do with some of these reminders as possible. 

Sad Girl Hours Saffron struggles with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and is dreading autumn and winter. She took time off in her first year at university and can't afford to do the same this year if she's going to achieve her dream of being an astrophysicist. She's managed to keep it a secret from her friends - fearing that they won't want to spend time with her if they see her at her lowest - but it's getting harder. Especially when she meets Nell. Nell - wannabe poet, autistic and proud, and lover of autumn and winter - is determined to show Saffron everything these seasons have to offer. The two grow close, and when Saffron confides in Nell, romance blooms. But with Saffron struggling to keep a lid on her mental health and Nell figuring out her own sexual identity, things soon spiral out of control. £6.65   Save 26% DISCOVER

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