Dear Enemy

The 1915 sequel to Jean Webster's 1912 book Daddy-Long-Legs is titled, Dear Enemy. In 1916, it was one of the ten best-selling books in the United States. The narrative is told through a collection of letters sent by Judy Abbott's classmate and best friend from Daddy-Long-Legs, Sallie McBride. Judy, Jervis Pendleton, Judy's husband and the head of the orphanage where Sallie is serving as interim superintendent until a new superintendent can be hired, Gordon Hallock, a wealthy Congressman and Sallie's later fiance, and the orphanage's doctor, bitter Scotsman Robin Sandy MacRae, are among those who receive the letters. Sallie's decisions regarding what to recount to each of her correspondents reveal a lot about her relationships with them, and Webster effectively uses the epistolary framework. In the same way, as Daddy-Long-Legs followed Judy Abbott's development from a small child to an adult, Dear Enemy demonstrates Sallie McBride's development from a naive socialite to a wise and capable. It also tracks Sallie's interactions with affluent politician Gordon Hallock and the orphanage's doctor, Dr. Robin MacRae. Sallie's early reluctance to dedicate herself to her profession and her gradual awareness of how joyful the work makes her and how incomplete she'd feel without it have an impact on both relationships.