Soul Homes and Secret Keepers

Dear Heart,
Today I visited one of my favourite places in the whole world: the library. I can never find the right words to describe the effect books have had on my life; on who I am and why. When I was little I would turn the pages of Mamma Mia's giant copy of Shakespeare plays until they curled like her hair. I would open the book in my lap and sound the words out. They mesmerised me - melodic, heavy with meaning and yet tripping ever so lightly off the tongue.
The characters I swallowed whole have grown inside me ever since. I walked endlessly with Lizzie Bennet; fell down countless rabbit holes with Alice; wondered at the nature of love and life with Cassandra Mortmain; ran away with Huck and Jim. These young men and women have shaped my character as much as the individuals who people the real world...
I heard somewhere that the greatest gift you can give another is a passion for reading. Perhaps this is why I dragged Talitha around the Young Adult and Teen sections of the library in a desperate attempt to turn her head towards Frances Hodgson Burnett, Noel Streatfeild or Sue Limb. No, instead she filled my book bag with vampire crossover fiction. Oy vey! Whatever shall I do?!
Love, Lydia x