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by Cecelia Ahern
RT Rating: 
Category: MAINSTREAM FICTION
Publisher: HARPER
Published: April 2009
Type: Mainstream Fiction
» Book Review |
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Cecelia Ahern
ON MAGIC, BLOOD AND MODERN FAIRY TALES
Cecelia Ahern has a magic touch. Just 27 years old, the daughter of former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has published numerous short stories and six novels, the first of which, P.S. I Love You, was turned into a feature film starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. She also created the ABC television series Samantha Who? and wrote a one-woman play, Mrs. Whippy, which continues to tour in Ireland after opening in 2006. And her magic extends to the plotlines of her books, which frequently include
a touch of fairy tale-style enchantment.
While Ahern is concerned that the magical element "sometimes scares people off," especially those looking for a more realistic tale, the author uses it as a device to represent change, as a catalyst for characters' personal growth and to convey to the reader "that you're looking for a new way of looking at things."
She goes on to explain that when a character (or a real live person!) is at the "lowest point of their life, they believe in things they'd never think about when they're happy. You don't question happiness."
Initially, Ahern confesses, the "fairy tale" label ascribed to her books bothered her because it connoted a woman being rescued by a man and riding off into a happily-ever-after without any real action on her part. Then Ahern realized that all
she had to do to turn it into a positive was to redefine the term for herself and what she wanted to say.
In a modern-day fairy tale, by Ahern's definition, the character goes through a hard time and beats her obstacles,
eventually finding her way to hope and happiness.
The character's journey often "mirrors some sort of fairy tale," she says, but the objective is "figuring out you."
When Joyce Conway, the character in question in Ahern's latest release, Thanks for the Memories (Apr., Harper), receives a blood transfusion after an accident causes her to miscarry, she changes in ways she can't explain. For example, she can suddenly speak six languages instead of one and has memories of places she's never been and people she hasn't met. She moves in with her father while she deals with her impending divorce but soon is compelled to investigate the intense connection she feels to a mysterious man.
Ahern had wanted to write about "the memory of blood," she says, because donating part of your body, whether it's blood or an organ, is "such an intimate act." Since blood "comes from the heart and goes around the body," she started to wonder "how much your body has a memory of you."
And that's the magic her characters experience in the book, Ahern explains. More than the stranger's memories, Joyce really "connects with his passion and desire," which is the kind of romance between equals that modern fairy tales are made of.
-- Stephanie Klose |
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