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“A sweet, life-affirming tale . . . with a liberal sprinkling of magic.”
—Marie Claire (UK)
“Filled with family secrets, intrigue, and magic aplenty.”
—Booklist
Bestselling author Cecelia Ahern follows The Gift and P.S. I Love You with the mesmerizing story of a teenaged girl coming face-to-face with grief, growth, and magic in the Irish countryside, after a mysterious book begins to reveal her own memories from one day in the future. Perfect for long-time fans of Ahern, as well as for younger readers coming to her for the first time, The Book of Tomorrow’s strong voice and sophisticated storytelling mark an instant new classic from this already beloved author.
In Ahern's latest (The Gift, 2009, etc.), a family's secrets lurk in the ruins of an Irish castle.
Tamara, who is 16 but has always felt older, one day finds herself abruptly evicted from her old life. After her father, George, a mega-rich developer, kills himself in the man cave of his Dublin McMansion, his wife, Jennifer, and Tamara learn that he has lost everything to the global real-estate bubble. They move in with Tamara's country uncle, Arthur, who lives in the gatehouse of Kilsaney Castle with his high-strung wife, Rosaleen. At the gatehouse, Tamara braces herself for a long summer. Her mother is in a near-catatonic state of grief, rarely leaves her bedroom and sleeps most of the time. Rosaleen, when she's not cooking gargantuan meals, is discouraging Tamara from doing almost anything, from getting the mail to trying to persuade Jennifer to get out of bed. While exploring near the Castle, which was gutted by a long-ago fire, Tamara meets Sister Ignatius, who keeps bees in a walled garden. Sister Ignatius promises never to lie to Tamara, but she's oddly circumspect when quizzed about Rosaleen's eccentricities. Boys help relieve the tedium. Should Tamara tell Marcus, the hunk who drives the Bookmobile, that she's still jailbait? There's also winsome Weseley, Arthur's summer helper. Weseley's father, a doctor, makes a house call to treat Jennifer, but Rosaleen drives him away. At the bungalow across the street, Tamara stumbles on enough blown glass to stock several art fairs, but who is the artist? All this would be perplexing enough for Tamara to puzzle out on her own, but Ahern introduces a superfluous note of paranormal activity: a blank diary that periodically tells Tamara,in her own handwriting,what will happen the next day. The diary chronicles the inevitable and the avoidable: It's up to Tamara to figure out which is which.
A far-fetched novel with too much going on.
Anonymous
Posted April 2, 2013
What's with the book report? How full of yourself are you people. We do know how to read for ourselves! Unbelievable..
10 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Martha-A-Cheves
Posted March 22, 2011
The Book of Tomorrow - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
Tamara and her mother Jennifer have moved into the gatehouse occupied by Author and Rosaleen Kilsaney after her father's suicide. After living a life of luxury, never being denied anything, life in the country becomes quite a challenge. Then Tamara has a visit from Marcus and his traveling library.
'Dear Diary,
Is that what I'm supposed to write? I've never written in one of these before, and I feel like an absolute dork, beyond words. Okay so, Dear Diary, I hate my life. Here it is in a nutshell. My dad killed himself, we lost our house and absolutely everything. I lost my life, Mum lost her mind, and now we're living in Hicksville with two sociopaths. A few days ago I spent the afternoon with a really cute guy called Marcus who is Vice Present of Dork Central, a traveling library. Two days ago I met a nun who keeps bees and breaks locks and yesterday I spent most of the morning sitting in a ruin- "Ruin" had been crossed out and beside it was: castle on a stairway to heaven that looked very tempting to climb and leap for a cloud that would carry me away from here. Now it's nighttime and I'm back in my bedroom writing in this dorky diary that Sister Ignatius talked me into doing. Yes, she's a nun and not a transvestite, as I'd previously thought.'
This is the first entry written into the mysterious book found by Tamara Goodwin in the "traveling library." It had no name on the cover nor spine but was sealed with a lock. But with the help of Sister Ignatius, the lock is picked and Tamara is encouraged by the Nun that it might be therapeutic if Tamara wrote her activities and feelings every evening. After giving it a bit of thought, she decides keeping a diary just might be what she needs. That is until she opens the book to write her first entry and finds, in her own hand writing, an entry already entered. Problem is, the entry is dated for the next day's events.
Finding this quite impossible, Tamara decides to test the diary's words. As the day progresses she remembers what she "had written" and surprisingly it was all happening just as the book had said. To prove this she opened the diary to reread the entry only to find the words disappearing and new words taking form, these becoming the entry for what would happen the next day. After giving this much thought, Tamara decides to see if she can change events by not following the entries that were written for the next day. To her amazement, it actually worked. Now she can change her own history. But should she? What will the repercussions be? Will any changes be for the better or the worse?
Tamara finds herself pretty much on her own to the grounds around the gatehouse. In doing so, she discovers a "secret garden" cared for by Sister Ignatius as well as a burned out castle. Her curiosity has her wanting to know more about the castle as well as it's fire but when she asks Sister Ignatius, she suggests that she ask her Aunt Roseleen or Uncle Author. But Roseleen is a very mysterious person who refuses to divulge any information about the past. Tamara becomes even more confused as she discovers the "glass woman" and the garden of glass hangings. She has a feeling that these finds must be kept from Roseleen. But for some reason Tamara knows that the castle, the glass woman, Sister Ignatius, Rosaleene and the diary all have a connection.
5 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 12, 2013
This was a wonderful read. The author captures "teenager" absolutely perfectly, which is difficult for many authors. Tamara captures your heart throughout the story. A little magic, a little mystery, and lot of personality earn this book five stars. I would highly recommend!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Instead of rags to riches, Tamara Goodwin and her mother went from riches to rags. After Mr. Goodwin committed suicide they were penniless and went from a huge house to a small cottage that Tamara and her mother had to share with relatives.
Enduring her uncle's crude ways, tolerating her aunt's constant cooking and hovering, having no friends around, having nothing to do in this small town, and dealing with her mother's silence was not how Tamara wanted her days to be. Her aunt and uncle were quite bizarre and seemed to be hiding something. What it was Tamara had no idea. Everything was hush hush and Rosaleen seemed to hide behind her huge tables of food and Arthur said nothing about anything. Tamara wasn't a pleasant young lady to begin with, and this situation didn't improve her mood.
As mean as she was, Tamara was quite funny....always joking about things. She also kept looking back at her life and wondering if it really had been better when she was rich. There was a lot of introspection, and the characters' lives were paralleled with inanimate objects and thoughts. Tamara actually met interesting people in the town and discovered a history of the castle.
The main focus of the book was based on a diary Tamara found in a mobile library that stopped in "Hicksville" once a week. The diary was quite interesting as well as shocking because of the content. The content contained something hard to believe. She would read the diary every day and the next day it would be filled with pages of even more interest.
The book was skillfully written....the author has a great style. You can actually see the grimaces on the character's faces simply because of the wonderful description; you can also feel Tamara's frustration, and Rosaleen's fear of something.
The book was imaginative, creative, and a book that was difficult to put down.....a marvelous read. It also was magical and a little out of the ordinary. Being out of the ordinary made it unique, enjoyable, and appealing. I liked the characters for the most part, but they were an odd bunch, especially Rosaleen with her odd ideas and her secret ways of dealing with situations and people.
I would consider THE BOOK OF TOMORROW a light read but with undercurrents of secrets, revenge, and jealousy along with a web of deceit and all of it being nicely tied up in the surprise ending. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge by the publisher for an honest review.
3 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Gertt
Posted March 3, 2011
I Also Recommend:
The Book of Tomorrow is the story of Tamara Goodwin, a spoiled young rich girl, who is forced to leave her life of privilege and move to a remote village with her grieving Mother and her secretive, eccentric Aunt and Uncle. Living in the Gatehouse, Tamara is drawn to the mysterious Castle laying in ruins, an elderly Nun that lives in a small convent on the grounds and the cottage across the road. All the characters seem to have secrets of their own and the story holds your interest building to an unexpected ending that leaves you wondering if you, like Tamara, are really who you think you are. The diary of tomorrow adds just the right amount of magic. A good well written story that stays with you.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 1, 2013
This one had a slow beginning, but picked up. Not too bad.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 7, 2012
Read in a few days. A different form of a story from her. Ready for something new from her.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.LAMorganCT
Posted December 29, 2012
Cecilia Ahern does not disappoint in this amazing book. A story about a teenager coping with the unexpected loss of her father, her mother's unstable mental state and her entire way of life goes to an Aunt and Uncle's in the dreary and isolated country, away from everything and everyone she has known her entire life and finds many unexpected surprises and confusion about herself, who she is, and her family history.
Very intriguing; an easy read that quickly captivates the reader into the story.
I stumbled across Cecilia Ahern's work quite randomly and found that she is much like Alice Hoffman; with a talent for writing whimsical and magical novels that beckon the reader to keep reading until finished...although when finished the reader feels an almost broken friendship in saying goodbye to the character's and unique story lines.
"The Book of Tomorrow" will not disappoint and is a beautiful, intriguing story that unveils many surprises along the way. Enjoy.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 7, 2013
Ending was lacking behind
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 3, 2013
This book pulled me in and kept me to the end. I loved it!
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Posted May 8, 2013
Xxxx
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 18, 2013
Cecelia Ahern is a phenomenal writer! She weaves a tale of mystery and suspense that involves real life characters.
I cannot wait to read another one of her books!
Anonymous
Posted March 2, 2013
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 21, 2013
The first person is a spoiled brat. I struggled to get past chapter 7 but by end of chapter 8 I was over it.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 5, 2012
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0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Malalani
Posted September 27, 2012
Once again Cecelia Ahern sends you on a magical trip to Ireland. Her talented style of writing transports you to a castle in ruins, a mysterious garden of glass ornaments, and an unexplained gravestone. Her characters are so vividly described that you want to rally for Tamara and help dispose of Aunt Rose. Magical and mysterious events will keep you in suspense!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Bwitchd3
Posted September 6, 2012
This is a beautiful story. There’s humor, suspense, romance, intrigue, tragedy, death, and redemption. It’s a story that people of any age can enjoy, although it is geared more towards females. Ahern’s characters are strong, well-developed, and pop right off the page. Even the quiet characters, like Arthur, resonate with mystery and back story. The ending is shocking, but wonderful. The first-person style of writing is the perfect way to get to know Tamara, who is endearing and hateful all at the same time. Despite her prickliness, you will find yourself rooting for her and her new friends. This tale of heartache and hope will have you asking yourself: would you change your tomorrow?
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This is the first book I read by Cecelia Ahern and I absolutely thought it was a treat. With mystery and a bit of magic this page turning novel left me wanting more from Ahern. She is a master at telling a great story, teasing you page by page with bits of intriguing information, all the while sending you a wild goose chase to solve the mystery. Oh, what fun!
This story is about a mother and daughter forced to move away from everything that they know due to the father/husbands suicide and his previous bad business decisions. Away in the county with her strange Aunt and Uncle, Tamara's life changes in ways she never dreamed when a large leather bound book with a locked gold clasp from a traveling library comes into her possession. What does the book contain? How does it change her life? Read THE BOOK OF TOMORROW to find out! You will not regret it. The book was just released in paperback on July 24th, 2012. A great book club pick! 4.5 stars!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 24, 2012
This was an OK book. The premise was promising (to me) but It hardly held my attention well enough for me to finish reading.It was an easy read & might make a nice vacation book.If it was a 99 cent book I would buy it. .
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 13, 2012
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
“A sweet, life-affirming tale . . . with a liberal sprinkling of magic.”
—Marie Claire (UK)
“Filled with family secrets, intrigue, and magic aplenty.”
—Booklist
Bestselling author Cecelia Ahern follows The Gift and P.S. I Love You with the mesmerizing story of a teenaged girl coming face-to-face with grief, growth, and magic in the Irish countryside, after a mysterious book begins to reveal her own memories from one day in the future. Perfect ...