About the Book

In a similar vein to The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews or Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory, The Baggage Handler is a contemporary story that explores one question: What baggage are you carrying?

Three people take a flight that will change their lives forever.

Fresh off a run-in with his wife, harried businessman David disembarks the plane angry and impatient.

Gillian thought she would be more excited about coming to her niece’s wedding, but she is just hoping to survive.

Malcolm has gambled everything on this trip to start his fledgling artistic career. To him, failure means working in hardware in what his father calls “a real job.”

After each picks up the wrong suitcase, they make their way to a mysterious baggage depot in a deserted part of the city. There they meet the Baggage Handler, who shows them there is more in their baggage than what they have packed.

A simple baggage mix-up at the airport is more than an inconvenience when it forces three people to face the baggage they are unknowingly carrying around.

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My Review

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings. Well, I suppose that’s not necessarily true, since I did read the description before signing up to review it. However, I was still pleasantly surprised. I love the analogy between the three main characters luggage and the baggage they live with in their lives. It was such a unique storyline, and so very clever.

You’ll meet David, a man who is dealing with the sin of un-forgiveness—and it’s literally killing him. Then there is Gillian. She isn’t living with contentment because she’s too busy comparing herself to those around her, including her older (and unhappier) sister. Last is Michael, a young college-bound man, who struggles with believing in himself and the pressure his father puts on him to live out the dreams of the parent rather than his own God-given dreams and gifts.

And of course, there is the baggage handler—an unlikely angel in the story.

David Rawlings did a wonderful job depicting these characters and allowing the reader to see their three-dimensional personalities. I felt like the story dragged a bit in the middle and would have loved to see the “after” before the book came to a close. How did the realization of what baggage they’d been dragging around for so long change their interactions with those closest to them? I guess I’m a born romantic—and even when things don’t necessarily end well, I’d like to get a real taste of the aftermath.

I was given a copy of this book for reviewing purposes, but the opinions are my own.

About the Author

David Rawlings is an Australian author, and a sports-mad father-of-three who loves humor and a clever turn-of-phrase. Over a 25-year career he has put words on the page to put food on the table, developing from sports journalism and copywriting to corporate communication. Now in fiction, he entices readers to look deeper into life with stories that combine the everyday with a sense of the speculative, addressing the fundamental questions we all face.