Gilbert's Gift

What would YOU give to save the life of a stranger’s child? That’s the emotive question posed by this heartwarming new novel by Brian Will Oliver.

Inspired by real events, GILBERT'S GIFT tells the story of sixtysomething Gilbert Shilling—an aspiring rock star back in the Swinging Sixties—who, against his family's wishes, decides to donate one of his lungs in a desperate bid to save the life of a dying boy he has never met.

The novel pays tribute to all the courageous individuals who become altruistic living donors—selfless men and women who, while still alive, are willing to donate an organ, such as a lung or a kidney, to help save the lives of others.

Having given up on his music career long ago, big-hearted Gilbert Shilling is now an ordinary working man leading an ordinary life—just another baby boomer lucky enough to have made it into his sixties in one piece, and still have all his own teeth.

Still grieving over the death of his own baby son many years before, Gilbert is deeply affected when he hears about a 10-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis who desperately needs a double lung transplant. Without the transplant, the child will die within weeks.

Gilbert sees a way of bringing new purpose into his otherwise empty existence by volunteering to donate one of his own perfectly healthy lungs to help save the little boy’s life.

Despite warnings that the transplant procedure holds life-threatening risks for someone of his age, Gilbert insists on going ahead—driven by a determination to help save this boy after he wasn’t able to save his own son.

With echoes of Nicholas Sparks, GILBERT'S GIFT is also a poignant tale about baby boomer love—a teenage love in the Swinging Sixties, lost and then found again decades later.

When the tragedy surrounding the lung transplant gains widespread media coverage, it brings Gilbert’s first love back into his life just when he needs her most ... But is she too late?

Blending a poignant theme with gentle humour,GILBERT'S GIFT is a story of selfless courage, a quest for forgiveness, and a Swinging Sixties first love that has never grown old.