The Books that have Changed My Life

As part of the Tainted Love book tour, I was hosted over at Author's Friend last week where I wrote about the books which have changed my life.

I've read some fantastic books and I wish I could include all of them but there are some that have really stood out as pivotal moments in my writing, and reading, career. I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the book that made me want to be an author.

The Gift by Danielle Steele

On a June day, a young woman in a summer dress steps off a Chicago-bound bus into a small midwestern town. She doesn’t intend to stay. She is just passing through. Yet her stopping here has a reason and it is part of a story that you will never forget.

The time is the 1950s, when life was simpler, people still believed in dreams, and family was, very nearly, everything. The place is a small midwestern town with a high school and a downtown, a skating pond and a movie house. And on a tree-lined street in the heartland of America, an extraordinary set of events begins to unfold. And gradually what seems serendipitous is tinged with purpose. A happy home is shattered by a child’s senseless death. A loving marriage starts to unravel. And a stranger arrives–a young woman who will touch many lives before she moves on. She and a young man will meet and fall in love. Their love, so innocent and full of hope, helps to restore a family’s dreams. And all of their lives will be changed forever by the precious gift she leaves them.

The Gift, Danielle Steel’s thirty-third best-selling work, is a magical story told with stunning simplicity and power. It reveals a relationship so moving it will take your breath away. And it tells a haunting and beautiful truth about the unpredictability–and the wonder–of life.

My eldest sister lent me her copy of The Gift on a train ride when I was fourteen and I have to say Maribeth and Tommy are possibly my favourite characters of all time. It opens with a tragedy for Tommy and I was already lost in the 50’s when Steele swept me away from Tommy's heartbreak and into Maribeth story. She’s abandoned by her family for something we shrug at today. Believe me or not, I have three copies of this book on my book shelf! Their romance and their journey will forever hold a special place in my heart. I finished reading The Gift and I knew I was going to be a published author. It was my calling.


Read the full post at Author's Friend

Erin