A Long Time Ago Today

by Sally Warner

Ever since her mother died six years earlier, twelve-year-old Dilly Howell and her father spend every summer in upstate New York at Mummie's farm, even though Dilly resents how her dead mother continues to intrude on her life.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2003

About the author

Sally Warner is a writer of fiction for children and young adults and of books on creativity. She made the Lily series and Emma series for children's books. Sally Warner was born in New York City and grew up in Connecticut and California, where her family moved when she was eight years old.

Reviews

[Rashu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good story, I enjoyed reading it. I love the characters specially Elspeth's and Dilly's. Such a heart warming story about mother- daughter connection ✨️

[Madison Lowery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madison Lowery Response #15

Dilly is embodies nearly all of the things we have been saying adolescents don't necessarily have to be. She is MOOOODY, irritable, catty towards her friends, and definitely does NOT want to go with her dad to spend the summer at her dead mother's family's farm. Absolutely not. In fact, Dilly really doesn't want to have anything to do with anything that concerns the woman who passed away from cancer when Dilly was 6, after all, she's the one who died and abandoned her, right? So, when Dilly arrives at the extravagant farm house (as she is forced to do every summer) she finds herself once again surrounded with memories of her mother; memories that only reinforce the imagined woman that Dilly has in her mind: a snobby selfish elitist. When Dilly learns that her mother wrote her a letter while on her deathbed, and she is now meant to receive it since she is now 12, Dilly is furious. She vows to find the hidden letter in the huge farmhouse and destroy it (after all, her mom probably left her dumb advice about makeup and boys anyway, how typical of her). As Dilly works to unearth the letter, she is forced to confront artifacts of her mother, and thus learn the truth about the woman she holds so much disdain for. This beautifully written novel follows Dilly as she is made to come to terms with the fact that the resentment for her mother is just a mask for her sorrow, how the past inevitably repeats itself, and how the love her mother had for the daughter she had to leave behind is nothing like what Dilly could have imagined.

This is a very special book to me, and I can't believe I waited this long to actually read it. When I was in elementary school, my mom was struggling through cancer and believed that she would not win the fight. So, she bought all of us (me and my sisters) this book about a Mother leaving behind pieces of herself for her daughter that was recommended to her by one of her nurses, and began to work on goodbye letters for us. I feel insanely lucky that my Mom has now been cancer free for nearly 15 years, and that she never had to finish those letters. She has told me the story inside of this book many times (so maybe this kind of counts as a re-read) but I never actually read the words.

Anyway, I love this book. It is not only beautifully written, but it is so complex. It makes me imagine the life I would have had to live without my mother, and I can see where Dilly's anger comes from. The story moves forward with elegance, grace, and understanding. Sure, it is definitely a typical "coming of age" story - and Dilly does have to do the whole adolescent character development thing that we are trying to push against in most texts - but I think it works here. It is a catharsis story in which someone dealing with immense emotional pain comes to terms with the past, and is given peace of mind for the future. Really beautiful. Really moving. Really hard to read (as always for me) without tears. I can't wait to read it again.

[Samantha Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very touching. It is about a girl who's mother died when she was six. Now she is 12 ad hates her mom for dying on her. Whatever happens, she blames it on her mom. But before she died, she has done two things. First, she gave her farm to Dilly (The motherless girl), which Dilly visits each year. The second, was that she wrote a letter to Dilly before her death. When Dilly's mom's best friend mentions about it to Dilly, Dilly is determined to find it and rip it up. After knowing what Dilly would do to it, Dilly's mother's friend hid it, and it is up to Dilly to find it. Will she? And if she does, what will it say?

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I get the book, the book didn't have much suspense or too much excitment, in fact it didn't have much of a conflict. The book was a lot about I guess regular life, and what happens to the sorrow you keep in from the incidents of others. I think it was kind of funny how the two famiies were friends for many generations, and I like the ending part of the book, because it's kind of amusing once you read it. I also liked how the was a lot of thought coming from the character(s), but it lacked actual events or actions to me.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takes place in the Adirondacks of New York State.

[kimmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg this book was so moving i read it 3 yrs ago and i still hav to blink back tears remembering it

[Sunny Chasing Horse]

just about to start the book

[YeounJun Yoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just starting reading this book but from reading the back i can know that this book is great already

[Gail Teele]

Liked it overall. Have a camp in the Adirondacks prompted me to read it.