Books to Love: Graduates in Wonderland


There's a huge part of me that loves writing and receiving letters. When I was younger, whenever I met a new friend on holiday, as we said goodbye on the last day we always exchanged addresses so we could send each other a letter. It's not something that often happens anymore. Now when we meet someone new, we exchange numbers and spend the next 10 years of friendship texting each other our favourite quotes from Harry Potter and memes about having to wait so long for the next series of Pretty Little Liars.

So, of course, the inner letter-writing, 19th century lady within me loves to read letters by other people too. I spend a bit of time every year reading Letters of Note and watching the video clips of Letters Live. I read and reread Love Letters of the Great War and bookmarked all of my favourite letters. There's just something so beautiful and honest and warm about writing a letter.

When I first heard about Graduates in Wonderland I knew it would be a book I would enjoy. Best friends Jessica and Rachel have just graduated from Brown university and are headed off on separate adventures around the globe. They keep in touch by email, sending each other lengthy commentary on their day-to-day lives, including all their mistakes and mishaps, as well as the beautiful moments that happen during their travels. 

This book was so easy to read, it just felt like I was catching up with old friends. The stories were laugh out loud funny on occasion and their friendship was truly lovely to read about. It also made me feel better knowing that at some point they were both half-way across the world also worrying about the same things I worry about and they were out there making the same mistakes I've made since leaving university. 

I'd recommend this book to anyone that is just about to leave university or has just left. But just so you're warned: side effects include a huge dose of wanderlust and a desire to write letters to absolutely everyone.