Story summary
Краткое содержание: Дорогой враг
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 10 parts
- Аудио скоро
A red-haired society girl runs a hundred and thirteen orphans and fights a Scottish doctor over cod-liver oil.
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Дорогой враг — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 63 500
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Средний longer sentences, everyday words
- Первая публикация
- 1915by Джин Уэбстер
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Дорогой враг in short
Dear Enemy follows one year in the life of Sallie McBride, who takes over an orphan asylum to prove she can and stays to find out what she is for. She cleans, paints, feeds, and teaches, and she wins neighbors to her side. All the while she spars with Dr.
What Дорогой враг is about
What happens when a young woman who loves parties is handed a hundred and thirteen orphans and a gloomy old building? Sallie McBride answers in letters, and the answers are funny, warm, and sometimes sharp. She calls herself entirely frivolous. Within weeks she is buying a dentist's chair, painting a dining room, and quarreling with a Scottish doctor she nicknames Enemy.
Dear Enemy is a novel in letters by Jean Webster, published in 1915 as the sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs. Judy Abbott, the heroine of that book, is now married to Jervis Pendleton, and she grew up in this very asylum. You get a story of change, vivid children, and a teasing friendship that nobody, least of all Sallie, can quite name.
Для кого. Readers who enjoy witty letters, warmhearted reform, and teasing friendships will love this novel. Admirers of Webster's earlier novel and readers drawn to women finding useful work will appreciate its playful relationships and the purposeful spirit running through the story.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
Sallie McBride takes a job she never wanted
Sallie McBride is a rich, lively young woman from Worcester, with parties to attend and a charming politician named Gordon Hallock to flirt with. Her college friend Judy and Judy's husband Jervis ask her to run the John Grier Home, an orphan asylum. Sallie refuses in a funny letter. Then she goes anyway.
She arrives in a snowstorm at eleven at night with her maid Jane and her Chinese chow, Singapore. The staff take the dog for a wolf. The next morning she sees the dining room, with bare walls, tin cups, and a single text reading The Lord Will Provide. Rows of pale children in blue uniforms stare at her without a smile.
She tells Judy that a hundred faces like these need a mother, not a superintendent. She buys hot-water bottles and blankets and opens the windows in the babies' dormitory. Sallie begins as a doubter, and that makes her useful. A fresh eye sees what habit has hidden.
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A prickly doctor becomes her Enemy
Dr. Robin MacRae, the Scottish children's doctor, calls on Sallie six days after she arrives.
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Cheer and fresh air replace dull routine
Sallie finds that the home runs on a religion called economy.
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The cod-liver oil war tests the staff
The first great battle with the doctor comes over cod-liver oil.
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Each child arrives with a story
Sallie slowly learns the children one by one.
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Gardens, camps, and a bank give children real work
Sallie wants initiative, not obedience, so she divides the big potato field into sixty gardens for the children.
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A baby named Allegra divides Sallie and the doctor
One June day a station hack unloads two artists and three small children at the door.
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Love and science pull the home in two directions
The central argument of the book is how to raise a child without parents.
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A frivolous girl discovers real work and real choices
Sallie arrives claiming to be selfish and lazy, and she means to resign as soon as Judy finds a replacement.
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The letters make comedy and sorrow share a page
Because the whole book is letters, we hear only Sallie.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Sallie McBride A rich, witty young woman from Worcester who agrees to run an orphan asylum and discovers she is good at it.
- Dr. Robin MacRae The stern Scottish children's doctor whom Sallie nicknames Enemy and Sandy, devoted to science and unwilling to talk about himself.
- Judy Pendleton Sallie's college friend and an orphan raised in the home, who wants it remade and writes for every detail.
- Gordon Hallock A charming young politician who sends gifts and wants Sallie to leave the asylum and live a society life.
- Betsy Kindred A tasteful classmate who joins as secretary, paints the dining room, and becomes Sallie's closest helper.
- Sadie Kate Kilcoyne A clever, mischievous eleven-year-old foundling who runs Sallie's errands and writes her thank-you letters.
- Punch A five-year-old with a fierce temper and foul mouth who loves to draw and needs kindness.
- Percy de Forest Witherspoon A cheerful young banker who leads the boys' camp and the fire drills and talks constantly of his girl in Detroit.
How it ends (spoiler)
Sallie breaks her engagement to Gordon after the fire destroys the old home, because she sees they share no real interests and she does not want to pretend. She also learns that Dr. MacRae's wife has died in an institution, which explains his silence. The doctor, badly hurt rescuing little Allegra, admits his feelings. Sallie declares her love, and they plan to marry and build a new, cheerful home near the cottages of the rebuilt John Grier.
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Вопросы о книге Дорогой враг
What is Dear Enemy about?
Dear Enemy tells how Sallie McBride, a lively society girl, takes charge of the John Grier Home, an orphan asylum. Through her letters she reforms the place, cares for the children, and spars with a stern Scottish doctor.
Is Dear Enemy a sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs?
Yes, it continues Jean Webster's earlier book. Judy Abbott, the orphan heroine of Daddy-Long-Legs, is now Mrs. Jervis Pendleton, and she and her husband ask Sallie, her college friend, to remake the very asylum where Judy grew up.
Why is the doctor called Enemy in Dear Enemy?
Sallie gives Dr. Robin MacRae the nickname Enemy after one of their many quarrels over trivial matters. It starts as a joke, and it becomes a sign of how close and teasing their friendship is.
When was Dear Enemy written and is it a true story?
Jean Webster published it in 1915. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on real ideas about orphan care of the time, including cottage homes, foster families, fresh air, and the study of heredity.
Как сослаться на это издание
Webster, Jean. Dear Enemy. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/dear-enemy.
Webster, J. (2026). Dear enemy. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dear-enemy (Original work published 1915)
Webster, Jean. Dear Enemy. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dear-enemy.
@book{webster2026dear,
author = {Webster, Jean},
title = {Dear Enemy},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dear-enemy},
note = {First published 1915}
}
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