The classic story of orphaned Jerusha Abbot, rescued from a bleak future by one of the trustees of the orphanage which she's now outgrown. Convinced by the Home's Superintendant that Jerusha is a worthy cause, the trustee agrees to put her through college, on two conditions: one, that he remain anonymous and two, that Jerusha – who very quickly rechristens herself Judy – write him a letter every month. Judy, with nobody else with whom to share her wonder as she gradually discovers the world outside the John Grier home, more than lives up to her bargain. The result is a fly-in-amber portrait of life at an American women's college at the turn of the last century, twinned with an enduring and affecting love story.

Or so I thought when I first read it. Over the years it has come to dawn on me that, actually, Daddy-Long-Legs himself is a little bit creepy and stalkerish … but that's late 20th century culture talking, and we would be far better off accepting the story at face value, and as a product of its time. And, as a product of its time, this is actually pretty progressive: Judy is no helpless Cinderella, but is determined to stand on her own two feet. Her ambition is to be a writer, and write she does – and the first thing she does on receipt of her first publisher's cheque is to start repaying Daddy-Long-Legs the cost of her education. Now, that's a heroine I can relate to.

Judy's tribulations as she struggles with manuscript after manuscript will resonate with any would-be writer, and her life at college and beyond is both eminently memorable and delightful. ( )

Gekregen van een tante voor mijn dertiende verjaardag en sindsdien een van mijn lievelingsboeken. Het verhaal van een weesmeisje dat eigenlijk schrijfster wil worden, maar dat lijtk niet voor haar weggelegd. Ze mag van een weldoener studeren op voorwaarde dat ze haar schrijftalent ontwikkelt door hem regelmatig brieven over haar studievorderingen te sturen. Dat doet ze en ze maakt daar haar eigen tekeningen bij. Uiteindelijk zit er een liefdesverhaal in maar wat mij trof was haar ontdekkingen in de studie en het leven, haar verwondering en reflectie.

I'd have liked to have been a fly on the wall at the editorial session where this novel was pitched. "So, it's a series of letters from an orphan to the mysterious benefactor who's sending her through college, who won't disclose his identity or answer back." "Oh, so like Dear Mr. Henshaw, but with a girl. I like it. How does it end?" "Well, the orphan girl comes to see her benefactor as a father figure. And then it turns out he knows her in real life but he's been keeping it secret and even though he's fourteen years older than her, they get married." "Awesome! We'll buy it." Seriously? Who on Earth thought that was a good ending!? Even before that point, though, there's not much to recommend about this book. Jerusha Abbot is one of this child-protagonists who can do no wrong ever: she's the top of her class, she's plucky and resourceful, she wins major scholarships despite being at an educational advantage to all her classmates, even the people she hates want to be her friends, and she publishes her first novel at age twenty. Give me a break. Is there anything this girl isn't good at? Apparently, just recognizing creepy relationships. Oh, and actually being as funny as she thinks she is. (Her drawings are cute, though.)

An orphan acquires an anonymous benefactor who pays for her to go to college. One of the first books that made me want to go to college myself. ( )

Quiet, well-written novel about an orphaned girl with a private benefactor she's never met. The story, while slightly formulaic, is very well-written, and the voice is completely engaging and believable. ( )