A Review by S. M. Dunning
I must begin this review by disclosing that Monika Hilder is both a friend and colleague. While this might have been problematic, the work itself is so well conceived and executed that it guards me against the charge of being biased by my proximity to its author. This is a beautiful book, brimming with perennial wisdom and delivered with great conviction. I trust that those who take the time to dig into it, and I’m hoping many do, will find that I have not praised it sufficiently.
On the face of it, the book’s nature appears simple: a series of letters from a grandmother, Omi, to her granddaughter, Annie, beginning at the child’s birth and ending twenty-five years later. Thirty-three letters in all, over the course of which Omi reflects on the vicissitudes of life in general, more often than not, prompted by particular circumstances in the child’s life. And this never feels forced or artificial. It draws on Omi’s rich personal experience, her love of fairy tales (something she shares with Annie) and above all, her faith. The voice is absolutely authentic. As Hilder tells us in the “Author’s Note,” she writes this for her two daughters and son, as well as for the many students who have passed through her capable hands during her many years as a university professor.
The appearance of simplicity here, however, is deceptive, primarily because, although Omi writes the letters over a period of twenty-five years, she elects to give all the letters to Annie on her twenty-fifth birthday. This, as they say, changes everything. Who precisely is Omi’s intended audience? The child she addresses at each age? Or the twenty-five-year old woman who will read her grandmother’s reflections about events in the child’s life? Both perhaps? Which also raises the even more fascinating question of what the letters are for. The most obvious answer, namely that they offer advice (or insights) she feels the child may need, is wrong, since the child will never see these letters. Only her older self will have that privilege. Are they some kind of a time capsule then, which would allow the older woman to show her prescience about how Annie’s life would turn out and why? Absolutely not. They are far too full of self-deprecating wisdom and genuine love for Annie to read as in any way self-congratulatory. Then what are they for?
The grandmother provides what I take to be the most convincing answer when she admits that these are not so much comments or reflections on the shape of Annie’s life as they are a record of her grandparents’ faithful loving prayers for her. Thus, the letters both mention these frequent prayers, yet in a deeper sense represent them. What I find particularly telling is that the grandmother privileges the written prayers over the spoken, suggesting that in some sense they are the more profound of the two. Indeed, they are beautifully crafted expressions of the yearning of a grandmother’s heart for her granddaughter, yearnings that she lays at the foot of the cross. So, I guess through these circuitous reflections, I have arrived at the place where I can answer the question of the letters’ true audience. And this is God. The reader will be deeply blessed by being allowed into this most intimate of conversations.
On top of all this, the letters provide many insightful readings of fairy tales. Readers who desire to pursue issues raised in the letters will find valuable resources in the endnotes Hilder provides for each chapter. Having said all this, the real strength of the book—and the reason I can recommend it unreservedly—is the authenticity of Hilder’s voice throughout, a voice motivated by love and guided by wisdom. I look forward to the day I can share this treasure with my own grandchildren.
Letters to Annie: A Grandmother’s Dreams of Fairy Tale Princesses, Princes, & Happily Ever After by Monika B. Hilder was published by FriesenPress in 2022.
S. M. Dunning—a lifelong devotee of myths, faerie tales, and epic adventures—taught young adult and fantasy literature as a college and university professor of English for many years. His imagination was initially stimulated and then shaped by the Oxford Inklings. He has a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University, which he attended as a Commonwealth Scholar. Alongside his academic work, Dunning also writes fiction, notably the Suzy series, beginning with Suzy and the Magic Turnip.