Slowly creeping out of lockdown and I have been volunteering at a local charity shop. Imagine my amazement when I found at the bottom of an old cardboard box, this letter. Handwritten in ink, it is a goodbye letter from one schoolgirl friend, Anne, to another, Angela – although those are not actually their real names because you never know, they may one day stumble across this blog and know it is their letter. Stranger things have happened.

Anne is saying farewell to Angela because Angela is moving away, presumably with her family, and Anne is saying how much she will miss her – she’ll ‘cry her eyes out in the loos so that no-one can take the mickey’ out of her. As she writes, she says how the words are getting bleary because her eyes are filled with tears. Very moving – and let’s face it – an author’s dream to find such a thing. Talk about inspiration. I hope their lives worked out ok and Anne moved on to find other friends. 

But did Anne ever post this letter? Did Angela ever receive it?  Who kept it for so long? Why was it in the bottom of a box destined for a charity shop? And how long had it been there?

Where should my story take these two young teenagers? Do they meet again in middle age?

Amongst all the chipped mugs and glittery discarded Prosecco glasses, this letter is without doubt a glorious gem.