Dear Meg
I have finally finished reading your first book “How I Live Now”. I am writing to tell you that every night I have read a chapter (thank you for making them short or else I might get even less sleep than I already do) and then I fall asleep and have the most lovely dreams about love, illicit relationships and sometimes about my country being subject to massive terrorist attack (a pet worry of mine).
You so clearly convey the voice and emotions of your fifteen year old protagonist, how strong the feelings of love even at that age can be and how self-centred young people can be about world events. You also quietly convey some of the idiosyncracies of Britain and British people, obviously using your own experience as an American living in England.
Perhaps because your book was written for teenagers and young adults, it feels a bit short. The end of the book is too sudden, Part Two tacked on to the gloriously rich, detailed Part One. The last few chapters are written as if Daisy, your storyteller, lived the story and then couldn’t be bothered to tell it again. But then perhaps this makes Daisy the teenager all the more believable: she started the essay, but couldn’t quite find the time to sit down and finish it properly with all the demands of a teenager’s life.
Your writing style and dialogue is exhausting but brilliant. Teenagers don’t punctuate, so I can see why you would think it wasn’t necessary either. However, lest you think I am being unduly critical, I shall finish by saying that your book was a total joy for being written with such a different voice.
Yours,
Ella
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