A big thank you

Dear Phyllis,

i am writing to you from Germany.
I am 32 years old now and when i was about 12 i found a german version of “all but Alice” in my local library. It was a lucky coincidence!
I felt close to Alice from the first chapter on. Also having red hair and a funny bigger brother made it easy for me to connect.
Of course, i wanted to read on and on about Alice’ adventures but after about 6 or 7 books there were no more german editions. So by the age of 13 i begged my parents that i may order the english books. I was just starting to learn english back then, so i wouldnt know if i could understand anything. I couldnt wait for the books to arrive finally and sat down reading with two books – Alice and a dictionary next to each other 🙂
it was my way of learning english and as a nice side effect: my grades in english became very good 🙂
The books always gave me a warm feeling of being understood as a teenager, of seeing how arguments can be solved, how Love can be shown, how friendship looks like. It cured my heart many, many times – then and now. When i was about 23 i read the last book and i couldnt finish it for months because i knew it would make me cry – and read it all over again 🙂

Now, i am in my 30s and cancer hit me two years ago. With having so much time at home and needing to rest i felt like i wanted to read the Alice series again. I was feeling very sad during Chemo the past year but when i re-read about Alice’ adventures, it made me feel safe and happy. It lightened up many dark days.

I just finished the last book again and found out a few weeks ago that my treatment was successful.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your books. I wish all the best to you and your Family:)

I am so happy for you, that your treatment was successful.  And so glad that you found the Alice series a comfort.  I’ve heard from many readers in Germany that they had to order the books that the German publisher didn’t offer, and I’m impressed that you were able to learn English this way.  Thank you so much for writing to me.  It made my day!