Reviewed by Victoria Sutton
I love the touch of fairy tale in
Cecelia Ahern’s Novels. When I first read PS
I Love You I enjoyed it so much that when I saw it in French I had to have
it – an excuse to read it again under the pretence of practising my French! I
was a few years older than Cecelia was when she wrote it and I thought that her
insight was incredible. Each of her novels brings something new that inspires
and leaves me with something to think about, so I couldn’t wait to see what One Hundred Names had to offer…
Kitty Logan is a journalist who
has spent the last few years caught up in the struggle to make it to the big
time. So much so that she might just have forgotten what journalism meant to
her in the first place. Luckily she has her closest friend and mentor Constance
to help her see the error of her ways but not before she has landed herself in
some serious trouble with the TV network she is working for, not to mention
ruining an innocent man’s life…
Unfortunately Constance is
terminally ill and will not be around to set Kitty back on her feet, but she
does leave her with a very important project – her final story, the one she
never got around to writing – One Hundred Names. Kitty is desperate to honour
Constance’s memory and get to the bottom of the mystery of what this story
should be and also to prove her worth as a writer. This not only sets her on a
journey in which she will meet a number of different people and learn about
them, but it is also the journey of her own self discovery.
I was hooked from the moment I started
reading. The mystery surrounding what had happened to Kitty first drew me in
and then as she set to work on Constance’s story I felt as desperate as Kitty
to find the connection! The characters from the ‘One Hundred Names’ list she
meets along the way all come with their own secrets which are like mini
mysteries that Kitty must solve using her journalistic skills. I enjoyed all of
their stories with each one bringing something different to the novel as a
whole.
There are a lot of characters but
I never felt that this was a problem and I thought that I knew each of them
well enough. I must admit at just over halfway through I wondered how on earth
Kitty would get through the full list of names but this is addressed shortly
after! Of course the one character we do get to know in depth is Kitty and
although there are a couple of occasions when she disappoints me I think that
actually this makes her more human and her story more real.
I am afraid of giving the big
secret away in summarising but I will just say that I loved the conclusion and
felt hugely inspired by it. When I finish Cecelia Ahern’s novels I am left
wondering where on earth she gets her ideas from! One Hundred Names is another gentle, heart-warming story that is
hugely entertaining and a little bit different, with a touch of magic and a
message to take away with you.
9/10