my dear child,

so much has pasted since the siku that i took wewe to live with those people, i know that wewe are so very young still but if wewe could read this letter, wewe would know and soon come to understand why i had to do what i did,

i was desparate and i had to find a job, and where i was working let me pay for wewe to get the things that i could never give you, like a kitanda to sleep in, and all of the pretty clothes that i paid with my own money to feed wewe and keep wewe safe,


I know that wewe don't understand this now, but when wewe become a mother wewe will come to understand why i had to do what i did yo save you, because your father abandoned us living us with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

upendo
your mother
fantine.