A Gift For You: Warmth, wisdom and love on every page - if you treasured Maeve Binchy, read Patricia Scanlan

by Patricia Scanlan

A warm, wise, funny and heartfelt collection of short stories from bestselling novelist Patricia Scanlan - the perfect gift and the perfect treat! Collected to celebrate Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and birthdays, as well as offering wise words on how to deal with difficult days, these stories will entertain and delight readers. Meet Magdalena as she prepares for the birth of her first child, knowing her family are in another country - but will her husband surprise her for Christmas? Share memories of treasured tree decorations and the stories they hold. Delight as Irene remembers her husband on Valentine's Day and fate finds a way to remind her of the love they shared. Cheer along with Sophie as she finally finds the courage to deal with a fairweather friend, and laugh as a grandmother receives a visit from her granddaughter - only to turn the tables on her and show her who is boss! Lose yourself in sublime storytelling - the perfect gift for readers everywhere.

Genres: Short Stories, Christmas

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2015

About the author

Patricia Scanlan was born in Dublin, where she still lives. Her #1 bestsellers include Apartment 3B; Finishing Touches; Foreign Affairs; Promises, Promises; Mirror, Mirror; City Girl; City Woman; City Lives; and Francesca’s Party. She has sold millions of books worldwide and is translated into many languages. Patricia is the series editor and a contributing author to the award winning Open Door literacy series, which she developed for adult literacy.

Reviews

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uzun zaman oldu ama sonunda bitirdim bu kitabı. İçinde özel günlerle ilgili olan bir sürü kısa hikaye var. hoşuma gitti doğrusu, kolay okunan bir kitap ama mutlaka alın okuyun diyemeyeceğim.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve never been a fan of short stories and this book confirmed this. Nothing to get your teeth into.

[Eda İmamoğlu · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/4

içinde kısa kısa hikayelerin bulunduğu bir kitap sadece senin için...
Doğum günü, zor anlar, sevgiler günü başlığı altında bir sürü hikaye mevcut. Her hikayede farklı bir karakterin kısaca bir öyküsünü okuyoruz. Bazı hikayeler çok güzel ve etkileyici. Hayatın değerini bilmenin, kendi kıymetini anlamanın örnekleri var kitapta. Lakin öyküler birbirinden bağımsız olunca bazı zaman sıkıcı olabiliyor yani benim için öyle oldu. Bazı yerlerde kitabı okuyasım gelmedi. O yüzden kitap neredeyse bir hafta elimde süründü. Bunun dışında gayet güzeldi. Benim için eh derecede bir Kitap oldu. Güzel zaman geçirdim fakat okumasam da olurdu tarzında. Yine de kitabı sevdim.
(Çok karışık bir yorum oldu sanki.)

[Julie Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book but wish there were less stories which were longer. The only irritating thing was that most of the stories were 'get your own back' scenarios.

[Janet Panter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up in a hotel - after leaving behind the one I had just finished. Shouldn't have bothered.

[Fabulous Book Fiend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: I really enjoyed making my way through these short stories. They're all very similar in length and so make for [perfect bedtime reading or reading whilst you're waiting for someone or something. I did find myself finishing one story and then saying 'oh just one more' and so they do make for compelling reading, that's for sure. All the stories are complete in themselves but all seem to have a similar theme of allowing time for yourself or completing something you always wanted to do, hence the title, a gift for you. After reading this I did feel like I should be kinder to myself and treat myself the way I treat others!

The book is split into sections for various holidays. Christmas, valentines, birthday, mothers days and difficult days. My favourite section by far was the birthday section. The stories in this section were all funny and the final story of the book made me laugh so much that I had to re-read it! I really enjoyed the Christmas stories and will probably read these again next Christmas!


Overall I think the book was a really good idea. The fact that the Christmas stories are first shows that it is perfect for the festive season, but I loved that that stories had so much more to give than just that! I really liked the length of the stories. Many of them were set in Ireland, a couple in London and so they had a familiar setting too, which helped. I liked the fact that I got to meet so many new characters and got to complete a whole story before having to put the book back down again . I would definitely recommend this book to read at any time or year and I really recommend allowing one of these stories a day to really spread out the pleasure!

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patricia Scanlan is what I think of as comfort reading. She has a reoccurring set of themes across many of her books and again here in this collection of short stories.
I actually generally dislike short stories, but I enjoyed these as they are just what Patricia promises in her letter to the reader on the back page. A little treat to enjoy with a cup of tea or wine - something to relax with.
A full length novel would be better, but this is a nice collection of short stories with Patricia's usual charming Irish expressions and relatable characters.

[LtLEGOReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this book as I wanted to read something by Scanlan. However, I did not realise that it was a short stories type of book. As I am not a fan of short stories, I decided not to finish the book.

However, the first few stories that I read was good, with interesting themes discussed in each.

[Niamh Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A warm entertaining series of stories whose main theme throughout appears to liberation from pain hurts, regret, living up to others expectations and doing the right thing.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories from one of my favourite Irish authors - some shorter than others. \little nuggets of family life. Quite enjoyable.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not normally a fan of short stories but loved these felt u were right there with characters

[Trudie · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good short stories and a few I skipped through