A Beautiful Job of Wrapping Up all the Stories

Question:                                          

I just wanted to reach out to you and personally thank you for writing the Alice series. I feel immeasurably lucky to have grown up with this series, and after reading Now I’ll Tell You Everything, it feels as though part of my childhood has ended. I still remember receiving my first Alice book- The Agony of Alice, in an Easter basket, at the impressionable age of 11. I’m 21 now, a senior in college, and for once midterms and papers were not my priority. Spending time with Alice, experiencing the anticipation and flood of emotions while reading the last book was. This book series has undoubtedly had a big impact on my life, and Alice is one of the few fictional characters that I’ve come across that I completely identify with. I am now working on my first novel, and I can only hope that my characters will have the same influence on people as your characters did on me. Thank you for doing such a beautiful job wrapping up the stories of Alice, Patrick, Pamela, Liz, Lester, and all of the others; they will forever live on with me and it will be interesting to go back and reread the series, knowing how everything turned out. Now I’ll Tell You Everything made me laugh, made me sob, and most importantly made me think about what kind of life I want to have. So once again, thank you so much, for letting us readers grow up with Alice, who I consider a very dear friend.

Phyllis replied:
 
I know.  I often find myself referring to Alice as someone real, laughing at some of the things she did and said, and then feeling embarrassed.  Sort of like a mother enjoying the antics of her child.  Thank you so much for your email.  I’m amazed at the number of women in their twenties and thirties who have followed Alice since they were quite young.  I feel humbled that you would take time from your busy lives to write to me.