Daddy-Long-Legs

Classic Fiction · No. 80 — Letters to a benefactor she has never met.

• Classic Fiction
• 30 min
• Ages 10–14
• 6 chapters

About this audiobook

Jerusha Abbott, the oldest child at the John Grier Home, writes a satirical essay that persuades an anonymous trustee to pay for her college education. She glimpses only his long shadow and nicknames him Daddy-Long-Legs. Required to send monthly letters to a secretary, she renames herself Judy and writes exuberantly about courses, friends Sallie McBride and Julia Pendleton, summer work, and her ambition to become an author. Julia's unconventional uncle Jervis visits and becomes Judy's friend, while the silent trustee sometimes controls her plans from afar. Judy refuses extra gifts, wins scholarships, and sells her writing, determined not to remain purchased by gratitude. She falls in love with Jervis but rejects his proposal because she is ashamed of her unknown background and believes dependence makes honest choice impossible. After her novel succeeds, Daddy-Long-Legs finally invites her to meet him. The sick man waiting is Jervis: benefactor and beloved were one person. Shock gives way to a freely chosen reunion, though the truth requires them to face the secrecy and imbalance that shaped their courtship.

Why it's worth a listen

Jerusha Abbott leaves an orphanage for college because an anonymous trustee likes one funny essay. His condition is that she write him monthly letters, though he will never answer. Renaming herself Judy, she discovers books, friendship, politics, and a talent for writing — while a tall young man named Jervis Pendleton keeps appearing at the edges of her new life. The sparkling letters are also a thoughtful story about independence under a benefactor's unseen power.

A question to keep

Can gratitude remain freely given when money, secrecy, and love are tangled together?

Based on the book by Retold from Jean Webster, published by Emma's Library original retelling

Chapters

1. The Shadow on the Wall
2. Learning to Live in the Now
3. Master Jervie and Lock Willow
4. The Price of a Gift
5. Independence and the Sickroom
6. A Question to Keep