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

America's most beloved columnist shares 40 years of advice through letters to her only child, published here for the first time. In this witty, wise, and intensely personal collection of letters to her daughter Margo, Ann Landers delivers her own unintentional memoir. The volume is both a moving portrait of a mother/daughter relationship and a keen social history of America between 1958 and 2001. Peppered with incisive information and gossip, Esther 'Eppie' Lederer (Landers' real name) offers insight on everything from marriage and divorce to growing up and growing old. A first-hand account of the myriad changes in attitudes and mores spanning the last half of the last century, readers will delight in Landers' signature practical wisdom and sharp eye for the absurd. As funny and loving as they are stern and acerbic, these letters reveal the real woman behind the Ann Landers moniker-a spectacularly original writer, wife, and mother.

Margo Howard lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband.