Hard to Let Go

Question:

I remember when I first picked up an Alice book. I was ten years old and wandering through the library when I came across a book that looked interesting. I checked out a few of the books, brought them home, and quickly became engrossed in the series. To my surprise, my older sister had read some of the books when she was my age so it gave us something to bond over. Now, as a junior in high school, I have grown to appreciate the series as a symbol of my own growth as a person. Alice and I grew up together and the series will always be a part of my childhood.

I read the final book today, and I’ll admit, I cried. It’s difficult for me to let go of the characters that I’ve grown to love for years and years. But it was wonderful to see Alice mature into an admirable woman. I enjoyed seeing her interact with her own children. At the same time though, I felt like their wasn’t enough book to cover her life. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been spoiled with books covering shorter periods in her life, but I missed the slower pace. Did you ever consider writing separate books to cover each year in college? I think that it would have been great to delve into her college life with more detail. But still, Now I’ll Tell You Everything was an amazing book and I especially loved the last chapter. You brought us right back to the start and I love it when authors do that. I would like to thank you for bringing Alice into my life. She’s such a core part of the past six years that I cannot imagine a life without your books. Thank you for putting your pen to paper and thank you for creating her all those years ago. It’s been a wonderful ride and I know I will be giving these books to my own daughter one day.

Phyllis replied:
 
I know that the last book covers a lot of ground, but I felt it was time to end the series.  If I had written a book for each year of her college, I’d probably get letters from young mothers asking why I didn’t spend a whole book writing about  Alice as a young mother, or career women, wanting a whole book just about her career, and I felt it best to let the final book show the highlights of her adult life.