''Letters to Jenny'' is a

collection of letters A letter collection or letter book consists of a publication, usually a book, containing a compilation of letters written by a real person. Unlike an epistolary novel, a letter collection belongs to non-fiction literature. As a publication, a lett ...

written by

Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and Fantasy (genre), fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his :Xanth books, long-running novel series set in ...

to Jenny Gildwarg, a 12-year-old girl who was run over by a drunk driver on December 9, 1988. The book also contains news of Jenny's progress after the accident.

Origin of the letters

Jenny remained in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for several weeks, occasionally making small movements. According to Anthony's notes, she regained consciousness fully paralyzed, being able to move only her eyes and one finger. Feeling that Jenny was losing hope, her mother wrote to Anthony, asking if he would write a letter to Jenny, as he was one of her favorite authors. Anthony corresponded regularly.

Jenny in fiction

Anthony wrote a letter to Jenny, proposing that he create a character patterned after her, in his next

Xanth Xanth ( ) is a series of novels by author Piers Anthony, also known as ''The Magic of Xanth''. Anthony originally intended for Xanth to be a trilogy, but a devoted fan base persuaded the author to continue writing the series, which is now open-en ...

book, ''

Isle of View ''Isle of View'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Piers Anthony, published in 1989. It is the thirteenth book of the Xanth series. Plot Che, Chex Centaur’s winged foal, has been kidnapped by a group of goblins. It is up to Jenny, a girl ...

''. The character is Jenny Elf, an

elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

of the '' Elfquest'' variety (another of her favorite series), which has a pet cat named Sammy (Jenny Gildwarg was a lover of animals). Jenny Elf has become a regular character in the Xanth series. Anthony received a letter from Jenny's mother, in which she describes reading previous letter to Jenny. On asking her about the elf character, Jenny smiled.

Jenny's recovery

Jenny since made much progress, communicating (at first) by blinking her eyes. Today, Jenny still uses a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

External links

* 1994 non-fiction books Books by Piers Anthony Tor Books books Collections of letters {{nonfiction-book-stub