The Tuesday Tell-All is a new feature on the CWILL BC blog — a question to answer every week. Today’s topic: Is there a particular book you remember getting as a Christmas or birthday gift, one that made a lasting impact?

My Auntie Marion and I have always shared a love of books. When I was 10, she gave me The King’s Daughter for Christmas. It’s a historical novel about a French orphan who is sent to New France in the 1600s to marry a settler.

I LOVED this book. I still have it, in fact. There’s something endearingly childlike in the fairy-tale-loving orphaned teen, and something adult in the whole marriage-to-a-complete-stranger scenario. Plus, there was a romantic (and mostly imaginary) knight, a strapping voyageur, a boyish disguise, a midnight midwifery call, a near-drowning, a fire, a clever escape from a war party, and, most importantly, a happily-ever-after.

My Auntie Marion volunteers at the Creston Public Library (which is lovely, by the way), and continues to send me books. And now my kids get shipments, too.

Thanks, A. Marion!

Anyone else have a favorite bookish gift?