Saturday, January 18, 2014

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Aherm

The novel I read is “Where Rainbows End” by Cecelia Aherm. This story has two main characters, Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart. Rosie and Alex are destined for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood. Their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. It is a heartwarming childhood love story between the two of them but somehow faith just can’t stop meddling.

When they were small, they did everything together. They had sleepovers, where they would play ‘hospital’ and ‘hotel’. This is because Alex wants to be a doctor when they grow up and Rosie wants to work in a hotel. They enjoyed each others company more than any of their other friends. Although they kept getting teased, they still sat beside each other in class. Then, their teacher spilt them up, they still communicated in class by sending notes but ended getting caught a few times. One day, they decided to cut school to hang out but were caught and their parents were called in. Alex and Rosie got suspended for a few days. In those few days, Alex was forced to work in his dad’s office, where he met Bethany. He told Rosie that he had a slight crush on her. Rosie called her Slutty Bethany. Therefore, Bethany became Alex’s first girlfriend. Although, his relationship with Bethany was going well for quite a while but Alex then decided that Bethany wasn’t the one for him.

One day, Alex found out that he was moving from Dublin to Boston because his dad got a job there. Rosie and Alex were both devastated that he had to go. Alex promised to visit Rosie and her family often. However far they were, they still kept in contact through emails and letters. After a few years, Rosie’s school had the senior year debs ball. Rosie invited Alex to go with her. He said he will be there but something came up last minute and he couldn’t go. Due to Alex’s absence, Rosie was forced to go to the debs ball with Bryan. She ended up sleeping with him and becoming pregnant. A baby girl was born, Katie. Surely she was difficult manage at first but Rosie then realized that Katie was a god given gift to her.

Rosie and Katie went to visit Alex in Boston. When they were there, Rosie felt her love for Alex was blooming when Sally, Alex’s fiancé announced the news that they were getting married. Heartbroken, Rosie still stood up for her best friend and was his best woman on his marriage. Later, Alex and Sally had a baby boy named Josh. Similarly, Rosie too got married to a guy named Greg or as Alex calls him ‘whatshisname’. However, Alex’s marriage fell out first and he started becoming aware that maybe Rosie was meant to be his soulmate. Alex wrote a letter to Rosie and left it at her house when he was visiting her but unfortunately Greg found the letter and hid it from Rosie. However, her marriage with Greg almost fell out when she found out Greg was cheating on her. Although she gave him a second chance, he still did the same thing again and when Rosie found out she was so furious that she never saw his face ever again.

Ironically, Katie went to the same school that Rosie and Alex did. She sat beside her best friend who was also a guy, Toby. At the same time, Rosie was having problems raising Katie as she was fired from her previous job. She found a job at a hotel nearby, while Alex studied at Harvard and is a heart surgeon now. After years of hiding the letter, Greg finally called and told Katie that he didn’t want to be the cause of Rosie’s loneliness anymore, thus gave her the letter. Rosie, who received the letter 30 years after Alex wrote it, is in shock and doesn’t know what to do.


In the end, Rosie quit her job and opened a Bed & Breakfast in her mother’s old house. Katie married Toby, although she used to say that falling in love with your best friend is weird. And finally, Rosie and Alex confessed their love for each other at the age of 50. So, it is true that they were meant to be soulmates after all.

Shairashree Kumaran
4 Cergas
19 January 2014

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