🎙️ Simply Stunning Classic Book Club

Daddy Long Legs, by Jean Webster


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This month we discussed Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs.

First published in 1912, the blurb for this one is below:

A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing to 'Daddy-Long-Legs', or wondering who her mysterious benefactor is . . .

A coming-of-age novel, Daddy Long Legs is told entirely through the letters Judy sends to her anonymous benefactor. The question we all had was how this one would stand up to scrutiny through a 2026 lens. Is it problematic, or simply an innocent and tender friends-to-lovers romance?

This one was Donna’s choice, so don’t miss the introductory information she gives us at the start.

With Deb away on holiday, we will be taking a break for a few months, but our next book is George Eliot’s The Mill On The Floss… If you’d like to read along, you have until August to do so.

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🎙️ Simply Stunning Classic Book ClubBy Joanne Tracey