Letters From The Inside (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [School & Library Binding]

John Marsden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The relationship between two teenage girls who become acquainted through letters intensifies as their correspondence reveals some of the terrible problems of their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers will find themselves quickly absorbed in this chilling epistolary novel. A correspondence between two contemporary Australian girls begins harmlessly enough, when Mandy ("I know what I won't do, and that's tell you my star sign, favourite group, favourite food, all about my sister and brother and the usual junk") answers a magazine ad for a pen pal, which has been placed by Tracey ("You write so well, much better than me"). As the letters become more intimate, dark truths surface and force both girls to confront personal demons. It soon becomes evident that Mandy's home life is frequently disrupted by violence, and that Tracey is not the pampered, carefree girl she pretends to be. Told entirely through letters, this psychological drama evokes the desperation of two trapped individuals who find a means of escape through their writing. Marsden ( So Much to Tell You ) clearly defines the voices, personalities and immediate conflicts of his characters; even so, the girls' fates remain hauntingly ambiguous. The heart-wrenching conclusion will exert its power long after this book is read. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-A powerful book, set in Australia. Mandy answers Tracey's ad in a magazine and the girls, both going on 16, become pen pals. The fluff of their early letters depicts two teens who are almost indistinguishable from one another. Soon, before these lively yet innocuous exchanges become tedious, there are hints that Tracey is hiding something. She reveals that in truth, she is in a maximum security unit of a correctional institution for an unspeakable, unnamed crime. She is big, she is tough, and she is scared. The universal, brutal truths of young women living together behind bars is made perfectly clear by her blunt descriptions. Mandy's life, compared to her friend's, is almost idyllic. Her timid complaints about her brother's violent outbursts are easy to ignore. His poor academics, hot temper, and collections of weapons and Rambo posters are rationalized away by Mandy's loving but overworked parents, as are her fears of being in the house alone with him. Then, mysteriously, Mandy's letters stop. The story is over. The tragedy of this novel is that these bright young people are not hopeless. Their lives are salvageable, if only someone with the power to help would listen. Perhaps Marsden intends, through shock, to sensitize his readers to the real-life tragedies hidden behind white-picket fences and masks of toughness; perhaps therein lies the hope. Consisting entirely of the correspondence of the two girls for exactly one year, this book is also an anatomy of a friendship. It will draw its readers in completely and cut them off with a jolt. Purchase it, read it, recommend it to mature teens and to adults.
Margaret Cole, Oceanside Library,
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 146 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078578117X
• ISBN-13: 978-0785781172
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,820,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ending Is Like A Stealth Bomber Attack, August 26, 2005

By 

Notnadia (Currently upstairs.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from the Inside (Paperback)

I think some of today's best writing comes from the "young adult female" (i.e. teen girl) genre. I'll unabashedly say I read a half-dozen of these books a year, though I left membership in that demographic in the last decade.

Australian John Marsden's novel might stun post-teen readers with how good it is. Not a cliché in sight, the writing is not watered-down, and it's more intelligently plotted than most of what's published for "adults".

This is an epistolatory novel, set over one year. Read between the lines: that's where the true story lies. Things start when sixteen-year-old Mandy answers an ad placed by Tracey, another sixteen-year-old, seeking a pen-pal. At first letters between this pair are the expected mélange of teenage thoughts and goings-on, but rapidly we get the hint that matters aren't as idyllic in Tracey's life as Tracey leads on. No, this isn't another after-school special where one girl rescues another from abuse, drugs, or any other calamity accounting for most of the fare in teen stories. This is different. It does not slip the reins of realism for one second.

If you want to be surprised, stop here. Otherwise....

....I'll finish. See, Tracey is not truly living the idealistic life about which she first tells Mandy. Tracey's incarcerated for a violent crime that shames her. She faces a sentence that will keep her behind bars well into adult life. Mandy on the other hand comes from a middle-class background with married parents and a brother who .... is not well-adjusted. As the letters come and the story unfolds, we begin to understand that Mandy needs to tell Tracey her problems probably more than Tracey does Mandy. Though they've never met, this is a friendship with great meaning to each of the girls. Over the year, we really get inside their minds and feel for them. We want Tracey to have a second-chance and the future Mandy, free in the outside world, can have. And we want Mandy to never outgrow her friend who is far away and miserable with the circumstances her actions have put her in.

We want a lot of things to be different from how we learn they are.

Let me end by confessing that this book delivers one of the most emotionally-wrenching conclusions ever written. No, I don't exaggerate. I'll offer this advice: don't read Marsden's book if you think you might not be up to a suggestive ending that hits very, very hard. You're warned.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The one that started it all., November 25, 2001

By 

Traci D. Haley (Prineville, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Letters from the Inside (Hardcover)

Ten years ago I discovered a copy of John Marsden's Letters from the Inside at my Library. I took it out because I was big into writing pen pals at that time in my life and thought it might be a good book. That one book started a lifelong love of John Marsden's writing.

Letters from the Inside is one of the most chilling books I have ever read. I've read it three or four times in the last ten years and in each read-through, I discover one more facet of the story that I've missed. The book itself, taken at face value, is not so chilling - it's what your mind creates to fill in the spaces that Marsden leaves in his story. What did Tracey do to end up where she is? What happened to Mandy? What happened to her family? Who marked "return to sender" on the letters? Will Tracey ever find out what happened to Mandy? Will Tracey ever make it back into the real world? The mind creates the darkest scenarios to those questions.

It takes a special kind of writer to make a story work with the "cliffhanger" ending. Any other writer and I'd probably have chucked the book at the wall in frustration. Part of me wishes there was a sequel to this book so that I could find out what happens next... and part of me knows that a sequel to the story wouldn't be possible.

Everyone should own this book. Or if not this one, then one of Marsden's other books. Tomorrow, When the War Began is amazing as well. I would place John Marsden at the top of my favorite author list any day, and no matter how old I get (I'm 22 now and still reading him!), I don't think that will change.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What I thought, May 27, 2003

By 

Areowyn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from the Inside (Paperback)

You find yourself online talking to random people that you never met before. After a couple of e-mailsyou start to be the best of friends. You talk as if you knew the person your whole life. If that is what you are into then "letters From the Inside" is a great book for you. Try putting an ad in a newspaper looking for a pen pal and then receiving a letter from someone. You are a bit surprised you got a letter. Throughout all the letters each one revealing a different detail about the person.
John Marsden has done a great job in writing the book by not putting the in chapters but by letters. This makes it easier for some people to read. Marsden leaves a lot of holes which your immagination has to fill in. With cliff hangers and the adolescent language this would be more appropriate for high school students. I really enjoyed the book. My mom couldn't keep me away from this book and I dislike reading.