Reader from Germany

I am a 16 year old girl and I’m from Germany.

I’ve never written to an author before (but I think it’s a great thing to do!)

Well, I remember picking up the Alice books in my town’s library when I was … like ten or eleven and I really loved them. It’s funny really, until I was fourteen or fifteen, I never did buy an Alice book but just kept borrowing them.
I think Alice was always a bit younger than me but I could easily relate to her.

I really liked all the characters, their problems and feelings. Lester was the older brother I’ve always wanted (I remember being really touched when he helped Alice overcoming her fear of deep water) I loved the friendship between Alice, Elizabeth and Pamela … and basically everything else 😉

As you may already know in Germany people stopped publishing the Alice books after “Simply Alice” was published. But I found out that there are more books and as I was really into English books I ordered “Patiently Alice” from Amazon. I was hooked once again and ordered the next ones very soon. And so it turned out that Alice became older than me – I actually liked this – but I still could relate to her.

The last year changed me a lot as I finally accepted that I am at least bisexual.
I finally told my friends, I told my parents and I just don’t hide this part of my life anymore. The reactions were all really good and I am really glad for having such amazing friends and parents.
Well, I don’t know how everything will turn out… if I’m homosexual or not … I just don’t know –  but I’m having the confidence just to see what happens next.

But during this time the Alice books were always there on my bookshelf and the Alice-world remained the same when things around me changed a lot. So I take this opportunity to thank you for creating this world! 🙂
I’m really excited for the last book, seeing where Alice’s journey goes…
Greets from Germany 🙂

Phyllis replied:

I love reading emails from other countries.  I’ve heard the same complaint from German fans before–about the publisher stopping halfway through the series.  It wouldn’t hurt to let the German publisher know that you’d like them to continue.  But it’s great to know that Alice’s problems resonate with readers all over the world.  It was also wonderful to know that your parents and friends are accepting you as you are.  Don’t feel that you have to label yourself right now.  Things will work themselves out and become clearer the older you are.  I tend to look at sexuality as a continuum, with avid heterosexuality at one end and homosexuality at the other.  In between are all the different shades of sexual feeling.  I’m glad the Alice books have seemed to be an anchor for you.  Alice’s world changes too, of course, and she has to change along with it.  Thanks so much for writing to me.