A truthful, articulate person

Sir — What can I say? For the first time in my life I have read an article that was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What am I talking about? You, reader, shouldn’t have to ask — not if you read Sophie White’s exclusive interview with Stefanie Preissner (LIFE, Sunday Independent, October 8).

For a young woman to speak so candidly of her life, her body — which she, herself, had no problem whatsoever with.

When we read and feel deeply the hurt of others who are somehow just a bit different from us, it is so hard to understand why they should be corralled and placed ‘over there with the rest of the so-called minority’. Are we for real?

Who, may I ask, is born perfect in every way? What a lot society has to learn if all we see is on the surface only!

Absence of a father? No sympathy needed here! I salute you Stefanie Preissner!

What a great mother and grandmother you had to rear such an honest, individual person. No wonder you love them so much. Not for their outward appearances.

Why? Because you epitomise them in every way. It shines through your interview.

Oh, Ken (Follett) — your new book, A Column of Fire, which I have just purchased in Tesco’s, will certainly have to wait.

Preissner, something tells me, will outshine and gallop ahead to reach a goal that not many can only hope to achieve! Alice Ryan Preston,

Cashel, Co Tipperary