Dear Me

Dear Me

A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self

If you were to write a letter to your 16-year-old self what would it say?

Dear Jackie,
At 16 you know a lot- maybe too much!!! But fortunately you are street smart and wary of horny old men...
-Jackie Collins

Dear Jo,
Not long until you leave school altogether, so please try and concentrate on your work for a bit. You can't pass German 'A' level if you don't read the set books, you fool.
-Joanna Lumley

Dear Julian,
At the moment you are a willowy virgin who has never had an alcoholic drink and wears Marks and Spencer's slacks and sensible shoes. You think you'd like to be a vet. All this will change. It's hard to swallow, but in a few years time you will swan around in black rubber consuming men like After Eight Mints.
-Julian Clary

Dear Brenda,
Listen Brenda, don't try so hard to be liked. The sooner you learn that some people won't like you the better. And remember that your opinion is just as valued as anybody's. Don't be embarrassed to get things wrong. Everybody gets things wrong.
-Brenda Blethyn

Dearest 16-year-old Patsy,
You adore music more than anything in the world, you have a great passion for rock and roll… but that doesn't mean you have to marry the lead singer of every band you ever had a poster of on your bedroom wall.
-Patsy Kensit.

Dear Faye, back then,
Stop worrying. There is nothing wrong with you. Your family is totally nuts but you are perfectly sane.
-Faye Weldon.

Dear Em,

When he says he doesn't love you, believe him. He doesn't.
-Emma Thompson.

Over 60 celebrities, writers, musicians, actors and inspirational figures come together in Dear Me, offering words of comfort, warning, cajoling, succor and advice to their 16-year-old selves.

From Yoko Ono, Stephen Fry, Elton John and Rolf Harris to Annie Lennox, Lynda LaPlante, Jane Fonda and Baz Luhrmann, the letters range from the compassionate to the shocking via hilarity and heartbreak, all offering insight that only time, wisdom and a little hindsight can provide.

Dear Me
Simon and Schuster Australia
Edited By: Joseph Galliano
ISBN: 9781847377661
Price: $24.99