A letter to Cecelia Ahern

Dear Cecelia Ahern,

As my school year comes to a close, I have been thinking about the books I have read, and have chosen to reflect on my experience reading your book, One Hundred Names.

I truly found this book a wonderful lesson about how every person has a story to tell, and how a mere list of names can evolve into a diverse and lively group of individuals.

I would also like to thank you, for this book furthered my interest in becoming a journalist in the future, which really made your novel personal to me.

Throughout the book, I thoroughly enjoyed trying to piece together the story and how all the characters linked together. When I first picked it up, I was hoping for a mystery that I could attempt to solve alongside Kitty, which was exactly what I got. I found the message of the book very humbling, in that all men are of equal value.

Something I would like to ask you was, did Kitty write the story Constantine wanted her to? I wonder if this was Constantine’s test of Kitty’s ability to find a story in anything- a wonderful quality for a journalist to have.

I honestly loved the way that the group of (seemingly) randomly selected people bonded together so beautifully, and despite the fact that they knew little about each other to begin with, they were so kind and supportive, such as when the entire group of characters turned out to support the two sailing friends attempting to break a world record. I genuinely found it touching, what unwavering support they had for each other, in particular because I really value friendship, and feel that it is vital to building the successful communication skills needed to work in teams,

What was your inspiration for this book-did you know any journalists yourself? When or where did this spark ignite in your mind? I am very interested in creative writing, and also have a new interest in Psychology, and am therefore also fascinated by the way ideas form. Would you be able to link the idea to an experience you had, or perhaps to a story you were told?

Something else I would be interested to know about is your reading habits. How often do you read? How do you try to challenge yourself of a reader? As my summer holidays approach, I’ve compiled a list of books to read, and someone has also recommended another of your books: Love, Rosie. I would be fascinated to hear about your habits, , so that I could mimic them in order to broaden my vocabulary.

Another thing that would be of interest to me would be how you have found studying literature in school has aided you in your ascent up the literary world. Did you find the analysis helped you to get into the minds of your readers, and decide which techniques to use? Or was it simply a case of enjoyment? In the fairly near future I will be choosing between studying both language and literature, or just literature. I wonder how you would advise me? I am leaning towards taking both, as I think it would really help me in my quest to become a journalist or some occupation in the language world- would you agree?

Once again, I would like to thank you for your wonderful book, One Hundred Names, and inspiring me to pursue journalism, as I had already known I wanted to work with languages, and this book is truly what nudged me towards a more specific goal.

Yours sincerely,

Gemma.

( 599 words )