Audiobook · read by volunteers
Dear Enemy
Jean Webster (1876–1916)
Read by Kymm Zuckert, Gesine, Kirsten Ferreri, Betsie Bush, Marij Sak, J. M. Smallheer, Maria Elmvang, Baranduin, Maddie · 24 chapters · 6 h 31
About the book
Sallie McBride has never wanted to run an orphanage. A lively, clever young woman, she agrees to look after the John Grier Home only until a proper director can be found. Then the children, the staff and the trustees begin to take hold of her. Dear Enemy is told in letters, to friends, to a former college mate who is now happily married, and to the stubborn doctor who becomes her favourite adversary. Sallie writes with sparkle and self-mockery, and gradually the comic complaints give way to real purpose as she sets about improving the lives of the children in her care. Jean Webster mixes warm humour with a surprisingly practical interest in reform. Twenty-four sections, six and a half hours, nine readers, and a heroine who is hard not to like.
Introduction
Jean Webster (1876–1916) is best known for Daddy-Long-Legs, her 1912 novel about a young orphan sent to college by an anonymous benefactor. Dear Enemy, published in 1915, is its sequel, and it follows a different character from that earlier story: Sallie McBride, the friend and college classmate of Judy Abbott, the heroine of the first book. The result is a book that is funny on the surface and thoughtful underneath, helped by the fact that each letter reads like a little performance by a person who cannot help being entertaining. Fans of the first book will enjoy meeting familiar names again, but no previous knowledge is required.
Like its predecessor, the novel is epistolary. We see everything through Sallie’s letters, which gives the book its quick, personal voice. The recipients include the president of the orphanage, Judy herself, who is now married to him, and the orphanage’s doctor, to whom Sallie addresses the letters headed Dear Enemy. Behind the humour lies a real interest in the way children’s homes were run in the early twentieth century. Webster was involved in social reform, and her light touch carries serious concerns about nutrition, education and affection.
The recording has 24 sections and lasts about six and a half hours. It is read by nine LibriVox volunteers, so the letters pass from voice to voice, which suits the format well.
It is worth hearing today for its sharp, funny narrator, its brisk pace and its kindness. Listeners who enjoyed Daddy-Long-Legs will find a worthy companion here, and it also stands on its own.
Public domain
Jean Webster died in 1916: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text