Paul Gallico Libri

Philip Rhayader is a painter. He lives alone in an old, empty lighthouse. But his life changes when a young girl from the village brings him a snow goose. It is hurt and he and the girl must look after it. This haunting tale is one of three stories in this collection, the others are The Doll and The Silver Swans.

Did you run across that queer sort of legend about a wild goose? It was all up and down the beaches. You know how those things spring up. Some of the men I brought back were talking about it. It was supposed to have appeared at intervals the last days between Dunkirk and La Panne. If you saw it, you were eventually saved. That sort of thing. Hmm, a wild goose. I saw a tame one. Dashed strange experience. Tragic in a way too. And lucky for us. Tell you about it... The Snow Goose is a beautiful tale of a hunchbacked artist, a girl, a wounded bird and a courageous act at Dunkirk. Also included in this volume is The Small Miracle a contemporary fable inspired by St Francis of Assisi. Both tales are endearing classics of the storyteller's art.

A young girl called Mouche is about to throw herself into the Seine, when her attention is attracted by a voice. It turns out to be the voice of a glove puppet, called Carrot Top. She then meets Reynard the fox, Gigi, Alifanfaron, Dr Duclos, Madame Muscat and Monsieur Nicholas. The story is about her relationship with the seven puppets and their grim puppetmaster, Capitaine Coq, and what happens when she joins their travelling show. This is another of Paul Gallico's brilliant short novels. You find yourself thinking, as Mouche does, of the puppets as individuals, and completely forgetting that they are only puppets.