Review: A Place Called Here

A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern

Cecelia Ahern is an Irish author that writes truly wonderful novels. A Place Called Here is the story of Sandy Shortt, she has been obsessed with finding things since she was 10 years old and her childhood rival who lived across the street vanished without a trace. Sandy can't concentrate on anything else when something goes missing, she turns her entire home upside down looking for the item. Her parents help her search but they become more and more concerned and arrange for Sandy to begin seeing a councilor when she is a teenager. As Sandy gets older she continues to search for the missing. She joins the "Guard", (which appears to be the Irish police) and begins to work for the missing persons division. She continues to work for them for a few years and then opens her own missing persons agency. She is hired by Jack Ruttle to search for his missing younger brother. While searching for Jack's brother Sandy goes for a run in the forest and finds herself in a mystical land where anyone and anything that goes missing ends up. She finds people that she has searched for in the the past, items that she has lost and a society that has developed by those who also ended up in the place called Here.

I really enjoyed this book. Ahern blends the mystical magic so seamlessly into the story that it does not feel like a fairy tale even though after finishing the story, I felt that I had read a fairy tale. The characters are endearing and linger in your thoughts afterwards. I rate this story a solid 4 stars out of 5.