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A Life in Letters: Ann Landers' Letters to Her Only Child (Hardcover)

~ Margo Howard (Author) "I was fifteen when Mother became Ann Landers..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Ann Landers, Mary Lasker (more...)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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  Hardcover, Large Print $40.00 $0.84 $0.05
  Hardcover, November 3, 2003 -- $0.19 $0.01
  Audio, CD, November 30, 2003 $37.96 $37.96 $12.47

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Landers (1918-2002) penned thousands of letters to troubled strangers during her many newspaper years, but in writing to her daughter, the advice columnist's personality comes through with more clarity than was ever evident in her published work. Howard has amassed a staggering collection of Landers's letters, which span 40 years and range widely in subject matter and tone. Several notes refer to the famous feud between Landers and her twin sister, Pauline (aka Dear Abby). There are gossipy moments, as when Landers writes about a socialite who's had a facelift so disastrous she's unrecognizable. Unfortunately for those who like such dish, Howard is disappointingly ethical, concealing names and identifying information. However, this strategy is effective in taking the attention away from the occasional catty jab and focusing more closely on the book's real strength, which is showing Landers as the loving, flawed, sometimes even surprisingly dull person that she was. Beyond the occasional mentions of celebrities or TV appearances, the columnist's letters are simply notes mailed from a mother to a daughter, and anyone who's sent or received similar missives will feel pangs of identification. There's praise and encouragement, shock over allowance squandering during college days and, quite often, a healthy dose of nagging. Some letters are downright yawn inducing, with sentences like, "Daddy and I are planning on coming to Parents' weekend on Friday." While these kinds of entries can be trying, they provide a profile of Landers that will thrill fans of her work and be of interest to letter-writing mothers and daughters everywhere.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist

Howard, the only child of Landers (aka Eppie Ledderer), has already written a memoir of her mother, so this time out she offers a book comprised of the letters sent to her by Eppie, organized chronologically by events in Howard's life. This is not a particularly satisfying approach, especially in the early going when Howard is in college, and there's not much of general interest. Things pick up as Landers becomes more famous and begins hobnobbing with celebrities. Still, to protect her mother and others, Howard leaves out many names, the most intriguing being the married man with whom Landers had an affair after her divorce. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Warner Books (November 3, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0446532711
  • ISBN-13: 978-0446532716
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,369,069 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Ann Landers
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› Visit Amazon's Ann Landers Page
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
I was fifteen when Mother became Ann Landers. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Ann Landers, Mary Lasker, Notre Dame, Eau Claire, Los Angeles, Sioux City, Mother's Day, Jimmy Carter, New Republic, Ted Hesburgh, Shirley Ann, Chicago Tribune, Mother Mother, Viet Nam, Bob Stolar, Heart Doc, Hubert Humphrey, Max Lerner, United States, White House, Edie Goetz, General Westmoreland, Home Journal, John Merrill
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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Read, November 16, 2003
By Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
Growing up I regularly read Ann Landers' column. I can even remember my favorite ones --- the one with the meatloaf recipe and the one about how to hang a roll of toilet paper. Living in a small town in New Jersey, I got a new perspective on the world from letters signed by people with signatures like Desperate in Dallas and Confused in Cincinnati. Sometimes I would howl at what people were asking while other times I was shocked at the depths of the problems that people shared.

Reading the column each day I formed a picture of Landers. When she passed away in 2002, I read the tributes to her and realized this was the end of an era.

A LIFE IN LETTERS: Ann Landers Letters to Her Only Child showed me another side of Landers. For here were the letters that personally defined her ---- those she wrote to her daughter Margo over forty-four years. Broken up into four sections, the book tells the story of a close mother/daughter relationship. Here, again in her own words, we come to know Esther "Eppie" Lederer (Landers' real name).

Whether she was giving Margo advice, checking in to see how she was or lavishing praise, Landers wrote with the tone of a well-meaning friend. The excitement that Landers felt in sharing her life with Margo is touchingly evident. Many of her notes to Margo were hurried pieces while others were long and leisurely, but all were personal and laced with love.

Margo has said, "I loved putting this collection together. And strange as it may sound, reading them all, together, was an entirely different experience than seeing them one at a time. A LIFE IN LETTERS - even for me - is like watching two lives unfolding."

The book is punctuated with notes from Margo that give background to the letters. At one point in her introduction she was astounded to learn that her mom had saved all of her letters, just as she had saved her mom's. It's clear that this writing ---and their relationship --- meant a lot to them both.

Readers also get a look at another side of Landers. We see a woman who was politically active and had a strong business sense. She had access to the powerful and the famous because of who she was --- people such as Walter Cronkite, Hubert Humphery and Cardinal Joseph Bernadin. She also believed in many causes and supported them with her time and her opinions.

There is enough reference to the feud between Landers and her twin sister, who penned the Dear Abby column for years, to be honest, but Landers takes the high road and remains a real lady.

Right after Landers' death, I clipped her meatloaf recipe from the paper and made it. After closing Margo's book I vowed to write more letters to my sons. Last week I was passing my older son's room and saw a recent IM session between us printed and tacked onto the wall. Sure instant communication like that is wonderful, but the preservation of letters like those in this book reminds me how much history we lose when we do not write.

Whether you are a Landers fan or just relish the chance to voyeur a very special relationship as it grows over the years, A LIFE IN LETTERS is a wonderful read.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

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3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book but ..., February 23, 2004
By A Customer
Unless you worship Ann Landers for years and know her background to some degree, this book may be quite anecdotal and a gathered pieces of personal events.
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