At 18 years old, Jerusha Abbott is the eldest child stuck in an orphanage with every other kid's
responsibility on her shoulders. Her life takes a pivotal turn when an unnamed man, who is a trustee
of the orphanage, pays for her college education being impressed by one of her essays.
He decides to pay a handsome amount to her at regular intervals in return for letters written to
him by Jerusha without any expectation of a response. The reader gets a visual of how Jerusha's
life unfolds as she steps into a new phase of her life. She addresses him as daddy long legs for she
catches a glimpse of his (long) legs as he leaves the orphanage one day.
Gripping till the last page where the identity of the benefactor is revealed, this epistolary comingof-
age classic is relatable to the extent that the reader can live Jerusha's life through her letters. Her relationship with the anonymous benefactor as she grows, learns, explores and thrives, makes the
reader an active yet a passive participant in her story.
