This book had such potential. Sure, there were moments of insights, but overall it was a disappointment. The entire last chapter was especially rushed and saccharine—very Nicholas Sparks-ish or, I guess, Cecelia Ahren-y. Maybe I've just outgrown these styles of stories. At 41, it’s quite young to be in perimenopause but, without going into the symptoms, Cecelia says she just knew something was wrong. ‘I definitely felt it, I didn’t feel balanced,’ she says. ‘I listen to my body a lot and always try to balance myself out in lots of different ways, whether it’s exercise, diet, looking at different alternative therapies and things to do just to feel good.’ Shoreline Hotel, Donabate, Co. Dublin, Irish novelist,Cecelia Ahern. Pic: Tom Honan It's been a long time since I finished a book in one setting and quite liked it. What I didn't expect was for this to happen with a Cecelia Ahern book. I feel deeply connected to this one because it felt like a very personal story in a way when I was writing it,’ says Cecelia. ‘Years ago I had an idea to write a book about someone who sees moods and emotions in the form of colours. I wanted to write a visual, colourful book, but I didn’t want to write a supernatural fantasy book. So I parked it for a while. It’s about a character named Alice who has the ability to see people’s emotions in the form of colours around their bodies; she sees auras. She can instantly know just by looking at someone exactly how they’re feeling, and if the colour travels to her, then she can also feel exactly as they are feeling. Alice feels that this skill is a burden, not a gift, and we follow her as she tries to navigate her own life, carve out her own path despite feeling overwhelmed by everyone around her.

I didn’t find those aspects challenging to write. I feel very comfortable writing about people’s foibles – I love to go into the dense dark spaces of the mind and see the world from my character’s eyes. The more nuanced they are, the better. Why do you think you are drawn to writing about loss? I loved seeing how Alice learns to live with her gift. The book discusses everything from self-discovery to complicated family relationships, neglectful parents, and a love story. It looks like a challenging topic, but I enjoyed how it was executed within the story. The ending also was beautiful in that it speaks the summary of Alice’s life experiences through colors 🤌🏻 Utterly wonderful . . . Cecelia Ahern is a master storyteller at the absolute peak of her powers. Her heroine, Alice Kelly, is completely unique – beguiling, complicated, extraordinary – and she’ll change the way you see the world’ Clare PooleyI did an author event in the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia. I toured the house where she wrote Gone with the Wind. What is the best writing advice you have heard?

I know the adage it is not the destination but the journey that matters, but Alice's journey is more of the same. It felt a bit like a mega serial (soap opera) with an extraordinary person since the mini-events happened to be nothing life changing or from a novel form story line altering. I did admire the author's conviction to see the world in it's colors and some of it's passages around light and prism to demonstrate maturity. Some parts like wearing a shield or her sales roles through aura mirroring seemed a bit stretched. The last part of her family was in super fast forward mode like done around the publishing deadline. Alice doesn’t like bright sunlight, seeing people’s colors gives her a headache and she doesn’t like people touching her. Alice starts wearing sunglasses to school, the teachers don’t understand why she needs them inside and they suggest she attends Clearview Academy. A school for teenagers who have behavioral problems, Lily is happy not to have to deal with her odd daughter and Alice makes her first friend Gospel. Alice which is the main character She can see your feelings with colours so like blue is for feeling sad .I was very Captivated by Alice as a character herself self and really felt Sadness for her, As I can imagine it's pretty overwhelming Not just feeling your own emotions but everybody else is around you. But it also comes from places so maybe that she can get an image image in her head and she can't get that out and it can be massive overload of emotions.Lyrebird is Ahern's 14th novel in as many years. Since her debut P.S. I Love You was published, in 2004, she has led the market for romantic popular fiction, both in Ireland and abroad. Lyrebird will easily satisfy her fans, who will expect the development of an unlikely love affair and a traditional happy ending. What they may not expect is a meditation on the world through sound. Between the factual framing device of Pratt's book and the development of two characters who connect on a sonic, as well as an emotional plane, Ahern manages to turn a generic storyline into a much more sophisticated narrative, albeit one that refuses to transgress the boundaries of romantic cliche. Synaesthesia is an interesting condition and it has worked well as a plot device in a few books that I’ve read in recent years, but hanging the entire story on synaesthesia is not really a runner. It becomes very repetitive - there are only so many ways of describing how colours appear - the red mists, the murky browns, the swirling purples. Less “a thousand different ways” and more a case of, well, just a few really. I found all of the characters well rounded. We get to know them well through their impact on Alice. Her meeting with Naomi is a turning point, where she learns that her life can be different. Her relationship with Andy, after an idyllic start, becomes troubled at times, but they learn to deal with each other's idiosyncrasies. Her love of being out in nature and her growing understanding of plants through seeing their moods and colours was fascinating and and, for her, life-changing. This book is the life of Alice Kelly who has the rare condition of Synesthesia (dubbed Aura Migraine) whereby she can see the colour of people's aura and lives in a dysfunctional family. It is not clear if she was born with it or developed it later, but she is suffering alimentation and feels cursed. Ollie her younger brother soaks in his mother's blue and red (Depression and Anger) while Hugh her older brother with his Pink (Love) manages to be the beacon of sanity for Alice. Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie könnten jedem einzelnen Menschen eine bestimmte Farbe zuordnen. Stellen Sie sich vor, die Farben haben Bedeutungen. Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie könnten dadurch die Stimmung und die Absichten aller um Sie herum vorhersehen und fühlen. Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie haben Synästhesie.