By Jean Webster (Author), Jo Karabasz (Narrator), SAGA Egmont (Publisher)

An Audiobook Review

Such a sweet story!

It is simply chapters of letters that orphan Judy Abbot writes to her unnamed benefactor, who found her in an orphanage and paid for her college education after reading a simple humorous short story she wrote. The only stipulation was that she write a detailed letter to him monthly about her schooling and life.

The talkative young girl and then young lady (for you can see her getting older by the style and content of her letters) writes much more often, sometimes only days apart. Her letters are full of excitement, joy, wonder, and honesty. She doesn’t want to call him Mr. Smith, so she settles on “Daddy Long Legs” or sometimes just Daddy.

Her life is filled with reading, studying, writing short stories then novels, and meeting new friends. She is invited to a few winter vacation breaks and summer outings by her “rich” friends at school, but “Mr. Smith,” via his secretary, says she may not attend.  She’s miffed in the next letter but apologizes profusely in the next. (After all, he pays for her tuition, and sends her a small monthly allowance.)  Usually, she spends vacations with a family on a country farm, writing and sometimes tutoring their daughter.

As she grows up and then graduates, you see her affection for another man blossoming. When, in a tumult of heart, she writes to “Daddy Dear” for frank advice, he consents to see her in person. And, oh, what a wonderful meeting (and final chapter) that is. It makes me want to go back and listen to the whole story again!

The narrator is perfect for Judy Abbot, the girl and young lady. I highly recommend this book!

FIVE STARS