13 Little Blue Envelopes (review)

Ginny's eccentric aunt Peg has died and left her seventeen-year-old niece with a strange legacy: a modest budget and thirteen blue envelopes containing various instructions that send Ginny on a life-changing, highly unorthodox peregrination around Europe. Ginny's journey brings the serendipitous encounters her aunt had hoped (a budding romance with a young playwright, some staunch comrades of the road), some rougher but realistic experiences (an aggressive male pursuer in Rome, a thief of her belongings in Corfu), and finally a greater understanding not just of herself but also her complicated aunt. The story is perforce rather traveloguish, but in a pleasing way: knowledgeable readers will relish the confirmation of their expertise as they encounter familiar aspects of London and Paris, Copenhagen and Rome, while others will simply luxuriate in vicarious voyaging. Ginny is a sympathetic everygirl, convinced "everyone else's life was more interesting than hers" and aware of the broadening of her horizons while remaining capable of being tired, irritable, and overwhelmed by weeks of strange places and dirty clothes; the supporting cast, both rotating and recurring, provides patches of believable yet enticing color. Johnson's style is comradely and ruefully humorous, inviting both strictly armchair travelers and wannabe world voyagers to accompany Ginny on her life-changing journey.