Writers are practiced recyclers because some stories deserve to be told again and again. We have here, among other things, an updated version of Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol’’ set in Ireland and another novel that puts a chick-lit spin on the old Pygmalion story.
Irish novelist Cecelia Ahern’s “The Gift’’ is a Christmas parable that unfolds in Dublin sometime during the Irish economic boom of the 1990s and the first few years of this century. Lou Suffern is a workaholic executive who makes a point of multitasking even as he cheats on his wife, ignores his young children, and schemes to advance his career. Early on a cold Tuesday morning in December Lou pauses to give a cup of coffee to a panhandler outside his office building. It’s an uncharacteristic gesture for self-obsessed Lou, but he feels strangely drawn to the man, who introduces himself as Gabriel, (“Everyone who knows me calls me Gabe’’). Gabe has unusually acute powers of observation. He tells Lou several things he’s noticed about Lou’s colleagues’ shoes, details that help Lou deduce which of his fellow executives may be plotting to sabotage his own plan for self-advancement. Thinking he can use Gabe as a spy, he finds him a job in the company mailroom. Suddenly the spiffed up formerly homeless man is a model employee who, Lou fears, may turn out to be a threat. Gabe appears to have the ability to be in two places at the same time. He can also read Lou’s mind. Gabe has been sent to show Lou the importance of family and friendship before it’s too late. Ahern, who has five previous novels to her credit, is capable of providing a well-worn idea with some surprising twists.
