Cecelia Ahern’s books have always managed to pull at my heartstrings.I started reading Ahern’s books when I was in school. I cried my heart out while reading P.S. I Love You, even though I was too young to understand such loss. I fell in love, as childhood friends do, with Where Rainbows End. I discovered magic with A Place Called Here.
Now, after a long time, she managed to captivate me once again through The Book of Tomorrow. This book is for every teenager out there. Because we’ve all been Tamara, the protagonist of this story, at least once in our lives.
Tamara Goodwin is the rich daughter of a businessman. She’s entitled, bratty and not a very nice person, as per her own accounts. She’s always at odds with her parents, talks back to her father, spends their money without care and only cares about the next ‘good time’ as compared to doing something good. She’s been trying to change though. Because something big happened in her life. She found her father, dead in his office. He had committed suicide, because they were going bankrupt and he couldn’t face the troubles. Tamara and her mother are thrown out of their palatial house and are now at the mercy of her mother’s brother Arthur and his wife Rosaleen.
At this point, Tamara begins to realize how fake her life had become. Her friends are turning out to be petty and she’s chagrined to find out she is also like that. Vowing to be better from now on, she joins her mother as they go to live with Arthur and Rosaleen in the middle of nowhere.
The middle of nowhere is actually a picturesque village, very close to the Kilasaney castle which had housed royalty a long time ago. It’s a decrepit, burnt down place and Arthur works as the groundskeeper. Ahern deftly weaves a mystery surrounding the woods and run down castle and we’re left wondering what the deal is with the castle and Tamara!
Meanwhile, something is very wrong with Tamara’s mom, Jennifer. She’s grieving, everyone consoles Tamara. But even a 16 year old understands the difference between grief and mental breakdown. Out of mind with worry over her mother and wanting to escape the monotony of life in a village, she climbs aboard a travelling library when it comes around.The cute librarian guy is just a bonus incentive for Tamara to be reckless. The guy, Marcus turns out to ve very friendly though, and even lets her take home a mysterious book that she finds in the library shelves.
The book turns out to be locked and it doesn’t have a name or an author. Intrigued now, Tamara asks her new friend, Sister Ignatius who stays nearby to open it. Turns out, the book is completely blank! The nun advises her to turn it into her personal diary. Tamara agrees reluctantly but the moment she opens up the book to write something, she finds out it’s already been written! In her handwriting, when she has no memory of ever writing it. And the date of entry is tomorrow!
And that’s how Ahern takes us on a journey. What is this book of tomorrow that manages to predict what’s going to happen on the next day? Why is Rosaleen so controlling and secretive with Tamara? Who’s writing in the diary, if not Tamara? Is it really something magical? Would her new friend Weseley even believe her suspicions about the book? A lot of questions that need to be answered!
And the most important question of all — since you know the future, does it mean you can change it, or is it inevitable ?
Along the way, Tamara makes some pretty big mistakes, messes stuff up but manages to unravel the mystery surrounding the castle — and her life as well. Since I would hate to give away the ending, you’ll have to read the book to know what the mystery is all about! It is a story worth knowing — filled with love, friendships, jealousy and betrayal — but how does Tamara get involved? That is the big reveal!
But let me end by saying that we all mess up. Knowing the future doesn’t really mean that we just go with the flow or go exactly against it. Life is a roller coaster and the best thing you can do is hold on for the ride.
So what if we make mistakes? We always have the hope of a tomorrow to make things better!
