The Gift – Cecelia Ahern

Format: Paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 305

Rating: 5/5

The Blurb

Step into the magical world of Cecelia Ahern

If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be?

Everyday Lou Suffern battled with the clock. He always had two places to be at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. When asleep he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind was always someplace else.

On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room.

But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time?

As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all.

This is a story about people who not unlike parcels, hide secrets.They cover themselves in layers until the right person unwraps them and discovers what’s inside. Sometimes you have to be unraveled in order to find out who you really are. For Lou Suffern, that took time.

(Blurb taken from Amazon).

The Review

I’d like to apologize to Jenny because I read this book very quickly and we were going to read it together – I’m sorry!

I know I have posted two Cecelia Ahern book reviews quite close together, but you can never have enough Cecelia Ahern, can you? The answer is definitely, no!

The main thing I loved about ‘The Gift’ was the fact that it was set around the Christmas season. I love Christmas, a lot. It reminds me of being innocent and young and not having a care in the world. I sometimes hate being an adult, you see!

The story centers on Lou Suffern, busy and a strong individual who is what’s known as a ‘workaholic’. One morning he talks to a homeless man called Gabe and randomly out of generosity offers him a job in the mail room. Obviously Gabe jumps at the chance and works his socks off but for different reasons than Lou.

At first I hated Lou and how he seemed to treat everyone around him. He’s the type of guy you wouldn’t want to be associated with and quite frankly, you’d think he was a rude man. However, the more you read and found out about him, the more you considered him to be an alright guy!

Gabe on the other hand is loveable throughout and pushes Lou into thinking hard about his life and how his family feel about his workload. In my head, Gabe is Lou’s conscience and it reminds me of the story of the Christmas Carol.

I will happily hold my hands up and say that the last few chapters made me cry! It could be that I have been poorly and emotional or it could be that anyone with a heart would cry, too. Lou has finally realized that he needs to spend more time with his family and especially at Christmas, yet due to no fault of his own certain circumstances stop him from doing this.

This book was fantastic! I would recommend you all go and read it now (if you haven’t already).

The Gift is available on Amazon and you can find out more about Cecelia Ahern by following @Cecilia_Ahern or visiting www.cecelia-ahern.com