Sophie WoollanOkay so I think just from my Facebook newsfeed it’s safe to say that 2014 has been a year of fantasy – I’m talking about Game of Thrones here. It.is.everywhere. I think the amount of memes alone is enough to base this on. Unfortunately though it seemed to me that the point at which everyone I knew started to become a fantasy addict (or more specifically addicted to Game of Thrones) was right smack in the middle of the endless slog of dissertation. So…I avoided it like the plague. I’m somewhat of a box set junkie and, to quote my housemate, ‘aintnobodygottimeforthat’.
So I skipped Game of Thrones (shock horror I know). But…there is one kind of fantasy that I honestly cannot resist, and that’s the kind that Cecelia Ahern writes. I can devour her novels in one sitting. I’m avoiding pre-ordering her newest release The Year I Met You because I have a stack of books already lined up and I want to save that one for Christmas. This is how much I love her books – I have to save them. The thing about Ahern’s novels is that they aren’t really fantasy in a typical sense. In fact I’m entirely unsure what genre they would fit into. They’re fantastical in the best possible way.
Ahern writes about things that in reality would never happen. Or at least they seem like they wouldn’t happen…but she writes them in a way that I start to believe they genuinely could. I’ve just this moment realised how difficult this is to explain without giving away the best parts of her plots. A Place Called Here is probably the best example of this but then, thinking about it, this kind of fantasy is also present in If You Could See Me Now, The Book of Tomorrow, The Gift…the list basically goes on. If you’ve read, or seen, P.S. I Love You (also written by Ahern) then you’ll kind of understand what I mean. If not – definitely do! In fact, I’d urge anyone to read anything she’s written. I can’t class her novels in a genre because, quite simply, I’ve never read anything like them before or since I started reading them. But if you love an element of something fantastic, magical and yet somehow real then I’d definitely recommend her. Start with A Place Called Here – that book made me question everything I believe to be real…and kind of hope that there’s more.