11 October 2020

Grace Kelly's favourite teenage books

In April 1966, Evelyn Byrne (Faculty Advisor at the Elizabeth Barrett Browning High School in New York City) wrote Grace Kelly a letter on behalf of her students, asking her for a list of her favourite teenage books. Grace, who had been Princess of Monaco since 1956, was busy at the time with the Monte-Carlo Centenary and through her secretary initially rejected the school's request. Eventually, a year or so later, Grace did comply, giving Miss Byrne the information she had asked for. 

Below you'll find Grace's letter with her favourite teen books, showing that apart from poetry she seemed to have favoured adventure books. 

Grace reads The Silent World, a 1953 book co-written by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas. 

Transcript:

Among my favorite books as a teenager were, "The Call of the Wild", "Typhoon" and, of course, "Black Beauty". Since I was a teenager during World War II, I was also very impressed with books like "The Raft" and "The White Cliffs of Dover". 

I was very fond of poetry, such as "Evangeline", and among my favorite poets are Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley.  

(signed 'Grace de Monaco')

Princess Grace of Monaco 


Note:
In case you're not familiar with the books in question, here are the authors:
The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903)
Typhoon by Joseph Conrad (1902)
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877)
The Raft by Robert Trumbull (1942)
The White Cliffs by Alice Duer Miller (1940), poem
Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1847), poem



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