Dear Julianne Donaldson,
My name is Kiersten Benson. I am
sixteen, almost seventeen years old, and I am writing to you to let you know
that you inspired me. Upon reading your phenomenal book, Edenbrooke, to be
precise, I was simply captivated with every page I turned and every chapter I
finished. The writing was beautiful. The emotion was real. And every
sentence I read was like drinking a powerful elixir or drug I couldn't get
enough of! Your story was so intriguing to me that when I found myself bitterly
yet sweetly finished with that book--I wanted more. I needed more. And
so I silently hoped and wished you'd write a second book and it wasn't until a
few months after reading Edenbrooke that I found it! It was an overcast day and
the little Deseret bookshop was snuggled beneath weeping clouds and my mother
and I found refuge inside it quickly and as I wandered down the isles of books
I found a quaint little book that looked remarkably alike to the book I'd
fallen in love with just a few months before. I read the back of the book, stroked
its spine and nearly fell over once I found out it was written by the same
author of the book that had captivated me so fiercely! The moment it was
purchased, I read it page to page to page and then I let it sink in deeply to
the point where tears welled up inside my eyes and I found another book that I
had fallen deeply, passionately and irrevocably in love with. I remember
staying up until three o'clock in the morning unwilling to put it down until I
finished even though school called early in the morning! I didn't care because
that was the moment I lived for. The book had ensnared me and I was a happy
captive to it. And so, a few months passed and I let the books sit for a while
until I felt the need to dust them off and let them stretch away from my stuffy
bookshelf and then it happened again. I felt that magic again and I found
myself doing something I used to look down upon--I wrote in that book. I marked
my favorite passages, wrote notes to the side and discovered myself reflecting
deeply on the chapters and aching as much as these two lovely protagonists did
because I related to them so greatly and the way you described every little
detail made me feel as if I was apart of the story; I was the protagonist. And
so it is, I am deeply in love with your books and I wanted to write this
message to you to enlighten you as to how much you truly inspired me. Page 250,
p.4, Ch.36 "It was not Mozart. It was not like Mozart at all. These notes
were not obedient little soldiers marching in their proper ranks. These notes
were wild things that flew like rooks above a crumbling tower. My inner demon
recognized this music as the dark, unleashed thing it was. And after an hour of
playing, my inner demon had whipped itself into a fury. It flew into the
banished corners of my soul and swept up the accumulated grief and frustration
and anger of years. It whipped it all into a torrent until tears streamed down
my face while my fingers flew across the keys. And my inner demon told me I
must fly. It told me I must make a choice now or else I would always feel caged
and helpless and powerless and small. I listened to my demon and my heart,
until the fury and the torrent had gathered itself into a great surge of
courage. Then I stopped playing, picked up the music, and ran from the
room." I remember tears tickling my eyelashes at that point in the book,
as it was only my second time reading the book, and I simply couldn't resist
writing about it right away. I grabbed my journal and wrote these words,
"I loved that paragraph so adoringly and so passionately because I felt
like all her beautiful words could all escape from my own lips and my own soul.
They pierced me in such a way and so deeply as I read them and I felt tears
surface briefly to my eyes that threatened to escape, but I tried my best to
hold them in...The entire book, as well as Edenbrooke, is just written so
beautifully and is so emotionally connecting, you can't help but fall totally,
irrevocably in love with it! Right now, it's on my to-do list to email Julianne
Donaldson and praise her for her work! My goal as a future writer is to write
as beautifully and descriptive as she does!" And then the last words I
wrote were: "Long live Julianne Donaldson." I know it sounds a little
crazy, but I really want you to know that I find you as one of my role
models I wish to be like when I become a writer in the near future! Your works
are not only brilliant, but are pure, clean and intricate. There is two stories
to a story you write: There is the one that most people see as a love story and
there is the other that few see as a triumph story of so much more than winning
a heart. In both the novels you published you portrayed similar but separate
protagonists that both secretly ached for freedom. They found it in different ways
and through battling different dragons of their own, but both won so much in
the end and both found themselves as the real prize they always wanted--to be
loved for who they are, not who they had. Reading those books was like
discovering a locked box of treasures and jewels you know are in there but
never actually see them until you find the key and truly understand the moral
behind the story. Look, I know this message is long but I have to tell you that
your books are in one word: Outstanding. Please, continue to write and inspire
all around you. I know that I can be as good as you someday because I have been
inspired.
Thank you for the gift of
inspiration. I will tell you, it is the greatest gift a person can give.
With hopes for the future!
--
--Kiersten P. Benson
Eagle Mountain, Utah.
Age: 17
Post Script. One more thing, do you
think Edenbrooke will become a movie someday? I truly, deeply hope it does and
when it does--you know who will be front and center in the theater thirsty for
more!
(Oh and also, I think James McAvoy is
a PERFECT choice for Phillip, but that's just my thoughts.)
OH! And if you are ever curious, I am no writer yet, but I
am that of a work in progress! Here's my blog: kierstybee.blogspot.
