How to Fall in Love... With Life

How to Fall in Love … With Life

Cecelia Ahern and the General Public

Copyright

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013

Copyright © Cecelia Ahern 2013

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013

Cecelia Ahern asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007350490

Ebook Edition © October 2013 ISBN: 9780007559206

Version: 2017-05-20

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Glamour readers’ inspirational stories

Extract from ‘How to Fall in Love’

About the Author

Also by Author

About the Publisher

‘Fine,’ I said confidently, ‘If your life doesn’t change, it’s your decision what you do. But I’m telling you that it can. I’ll show you. You and me, we’ll do it together, we’ll see how wonderful life can be. I promise you.’

from How to Fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern

She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life.

To celebrate publication of Cecelia Ahern’s How to Fall in Love, we asked GLAMOUR magazine readers to share their inspirational stories about that defining moment in their life – read on for our favourites, and also for a preview of Cecelia’s new novel.

Glamour readers’ inspirational stories

‘The coach stopped and I woke up, tired and groggy from the long journey – a flight from London, a couple of nights in a run-down hostel, a day long coach journey through Germany and Italy. But when I stepped out of the coach and into the hot Roman sun, I realised it’s all been worth it. All the scrimping and saving for the last year has led me to here. I will never forget that moment I first saw the eternal city. Tourists bustling about, cars beeping whilst Vespas darted in and out of traffic, couples flirting with each other in the musical language of Italian. That’s when I realised, this is where I want to live for the rest of my life.’

Taylor Jones

‘I had been studying law and languages at university but realised I wasn’t happy and began searching for something more meaningful. I signed up with a care agency and began a few shifts on a head injury rehab unit, where I met a young lad the same age as me, who had also been studying languages at Uni, but who had sustained a devastating head injury when he was hit by a car one evening. I will never forget the feeling I had when I suddenly understood how precious life is – and I still work with brain injury survivors, twenty one years later!’

Alison Wright

‘The amazing feeling of seeing the outside world again after so many weeks of being trapped inside threatened to overwhelm me. Tears coursed down my cheeks as I gazed at the wonder of daffodils blooming in the weak spring sunlight, and the leaves beginning to bud on the previously bare trees. I had feared that I would never again breathe in the cool fresh Spring air or set my unsteady feet upon the moist earth. My experience in hospital with life threatening septicaemia had woken me up to how precious every moment of life is. And now I was on my way home to take my gorgeous children into my arms & make the most of every day that life still had to offer me. I would never again take life for granted.’

Julie Ryder

‘I was diagnosed with cancer and spent two plus years in treatment, which caused a number of other problems - with a 3 year old, an unhelpful husband, no job, and no money I fell into depression and spiralled into a dark hole. I met a young girl also having treatment who was so upbeat – despite a terminal diagnosis – when I was on the mend. Her nature and love of life was infectious. Now I wake up and thank God for each new day – I may never be rich but I am truly happy.’

Bernie Tyrrell

‘I was born in the city and always lived in towns or cities; I didn’t know any different, so I never realised it wasn’t the right environment for me to fall in love with life. One day a friend took me to the Yorkshire Dales and it was like a whole new world opening up. The skies are beautiful, the land is beautiful, you can see for miles, not just a small rectangle of sky between buildings and a ‘view’ over the park to the next block of houses and shops. I had no idea, just how wonderful it is to see and feel and smell fresh sights and sounds, space stretching out all around me. I fell in love and moved to the countryside, where I discovered new sights, sounds and smells and opened up all my senses to embrace every moment in life. The odd thing is that this is not the end of the story. After a while I returned to the city, saw it with new eyes, experienced it with renewed energy and now I love to travel and I love to immerse myself in the sights, sounds, foods and people and to find and appreciate the best in them all, wherever I may be.’

Susanna Callaghan

‘You know that feeling when you take a look around and think I can’t believe this is real – it’s just so perfect. I had that feeling on a very average day back in 2000. I’d been to Pizza Hut with my boyfriend of 4 months and we were then going to watch a film. We were sat in the cinema; I can’t even recall the name of the film as it was quite boring. It’s hard to describe what happened but it was like a sudden wave of realisation that I really was totally and utterly in love. At that moment I felt a contentment, excitement, exhilaration and an energy I’d never felt before. I wanted to bottle that feeling to remind me that you don’t have to be jumping out of planes or going on amazing holidays to feel like you’re alive. It’s all these normal days in between the big events in your life where the real living takes place. Thirteen years later and we’re now married with 3 children and I’ve had many moments where the beauty of life has quite literally taken my breath away but I always try to remember it’s often the little things in life that mean the most.’

Claire O’Brion

‘I fell in love with life at the beginning and the end of a period of time in 2002. I had been told I would never be able to carry a child, something which made me very sad, and felt my life lacking, as being a mother was my ultimate wish. In January 2002 I found out I was pregnant. My then partner now husband and I had been together 3 months. After many ups and downs of pregnancy our beautiful daughter was born 26th September 2002. We just celebrated her 11th Birthday, and are married with an 8 year old son too. I have systemic lupus diagnosed just after my daughter’s birth, but LOVE life with my wonderful family I thought I would never have.’

Victoria Bailey

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