No Book Put Me Through So Many Emotions

Question:

I just finished reading your last book of the Alice series – I think no book ever put me through so many emotions and tears while reading it as this one! I’m 24 years old now and I started reading the Alice series when I was about 10 – so I guess I could say her and my life ran in parallel for some time (I’m from Germany and the series was published a few years later than in the US) 😉  I know you hear it a lot, but I found myself so often in Alice and a lot of her life situations. Especially when growing up, hitting puberty, it felt as if I read about myself – which sometimes really helped me. There have always been periods in my life where I felt “in-between” and doubted about taking the right decisions, but now as I finished reading Alice’s story, I know that this feeling was and is more than okay and life has its way of figuring itself out.

I don’t think I’ve ever bonded so much with a character of a book and therefore also indirectly with you, the author. The funny part is, that when I was 20 I decided to go to the US for a while to live and work as an Au pair – and guess where it took me? A family in Bethesda, who also just moved there from Takoma Park. Right when I saw their request and the place where they lived, I knew it was a sign! While living there I explored the whole area including Silver Spring, and even though I know Alice is a fictional character, I felt very close to her. 🙂 I guess everyone has and needs her inner Alice, no matter which country she’s from and which language she speaks. I’m already looking forward to the day I can give the books to my daughter , should I ever have one- if not, I’ll keep them anyway and read them again and again!

Thank you Phyllis for creating such a real and lovely series 🙂 You and Alice have been a big part of my life and always will be!

Phyllis replied:

How wonderful that you were able to come to the U.S. and explore the same haunts as Alice!  I love the idea of everyone being able to  have an “inner Alice.”  I know that not all countries publish the Alice books, and that some countries print only the first ten or so, but it seems as though you have been able to find the whole series.  I’m delighted that the books meant so much to you, and appreciate your writing to tell me so!