Customer Reviews (3)

Miracle in the Wilderness
This is a very beautiful story, the movie version did not stay true to the book, in fact it was a disappointment after reading the book.

The reader has the sense of being in the wilderness with Jasper Adams and Dorcas and understanding how difficult it was for them to make a life. When they are captured by the Algonquin Indians and walking in the snow you feel the cold and pain. When Jasper begins to tell the story of the miracle the reader listens as well and is also touched. It is a very special book.

Nice story, but the movie is better
This book is the one that the movie by the same title, starring Kris Kristofferson was made from.But they are very different.I like the movie version better, but the book was a nice story and would be a good one to read at Christmas time.

A Christmas Treasure!
Author Paul Gallico writes his novella, "Miracle in the Wilderness: A Christmas Story of Colonial America" as if recalling a story his great-grandmother told him on a Christmas Eve night when he was a little boy. Gallico lets his great-grandmother's tale transport the reader from her cozy, Christmas tree decorated and scented parlor to a rugged, snow-covered trail in the vast mid-18th century wilderness of upstate New York.

The great-grandmother's story is set on a Christmas Eve during the French and Indian War. On that day, Algonquin Indians, allied with the French, attacked the isolated frontier home of Jasper Adams. After brutally subduing Jasper and his wife, Dorcas, the Indians burn the cabin and march the Adamses and their infant son, Asher, into the surrounding wilderness as captives. Being hotly pursued by British soldiers bent on rescue or revenge, the Algonquin leader has to make a decision whether to risk the lives of his men by keeping the slow moving captives alive or kill them in order to move more swiftly through night forest. The leader is just about to announce his decision when his party come across three deer: a buck, a doe, and a fawn kneeling toward the east in the middle of moonlit glade. Jasper Adams is shocked out of his pain and despair by the sight of the deer which reminds him that on this night the infant Jesus was born. He falls to his knees in homage and is quickly joined there by his wife, who holds their infant son. The Algonquins are bewildered by the unafraid deer and also by their captives' seeming understanding of this strange sight. Their leader, a very spiritual man, demands that Jasper tell him what this all means. Jasper complies and starts to describe the first Christmas to his captors and what this night means to all people and the creatures that walk upon the earth. What follows is the true miracle in the wilderness.

This is wonderfully written story of humankind's enduring faith. It's fairly short and can be read in one sitting (as I do every Christmas Eve.)

This novella was also turned into a made-for-TV movie about ten years ago by TNT.However, the creators of the movie butchered this wonderful story by changing the setting from the French and Indian War to the 19th century West and then adding all sorts of unneccessary subplots. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Cash making sequel a guilty pleasure.
Producer/Director Irwin Allen, eager to score a hit after flopping with the embarrassing failure of The Swarm, evidently backed Paul Gallico into a corner and sweet talked the author into penning a sequel to The Poseidon Adventure that would hopefully stimulate interest in financing another Poseidon Adventure feature film.Gallico, either making up the concept himself or working from ideas sculpted by Allen's screenwriters, cooked up a moderately entertaining sequel to the movie itself, rather than his novel, which ended quite differently.It's better written than one would expect for something with such crass origins, and, in a humorous touch, Gallico dedicated the novel to Mr. Allen.Recommended to Poseidon Adventure buffs only.

Gallico sold out!
Schlocky sequel...author admittedly penned this just to satisfy Filmmaker's lust for a movie version (which was an ultimate bomb, too). Not only is it a follow up to the film THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (NOT to his excellent original book), but it's a bad one! Contrived silliness from such a talented writer...might have some appeal for diehard fans of the original movie.

great plot and far superior to the movie beyond the poseidon
this is great it is much better than the movie beyond the poseidon adventure

Entertaining action story with well-developed characters.
First and foremost in this book's favor is that it bears no resemblance to the movie of the same name. Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (Gallico, Dell Publishing, 1978) was written in anticipation of the movie, and I wishIrwin Allen had read it before he approved his script.

I liked thisstory. Paul Gallico spent few words on exposition and concentrated on theaction. Plenty of it, too, from running gunfights to single combat toracing against the sea, all while worthy opponents struggle to accomplishtheir respective missions. Frequently we'll see Gallico's subtle, dry witemerge, as if playing the role of a gentle comic relief.

BTPA canconfuse readers of the first excellent book, The Poseidon Adventure (alsoby Gallico), because this second book is a sequel to the blockbuster movie(with Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters). That movie and that first book hadsignificant plot and character differences, but if you can accept this, youcan enjoy the story.

Several of the original survivors reboard the stillfloating Poseidon scant minutes after their famous escape. Tough New YorkCop Mike Rogo has unfinished business. They are joined by Captain Jason, athinly-veiled Tyrone Power-swashbuckler who still manages to beentertaining, Hely the ruthless (and beautiful) grave robber who wants himat any cost, and the savage, debonair Ilich Bela, who is out to take whatRogo is determined to protect. Each character is vividly drawn in Gallico'sspare prose, as he lets their actions and feelings do the describing.

Asin the original novel, here Gallico fills the story with secondarycharacters, each drawn just enough so that the reader can recognize himimmediately when he appears later. Here we see the boardroom schemers onboth sides of the Atlantic, with a secret to hide, the whole worldwatching, and the murderous Bela on their payroll. We also see along-retired Sailor thrust into the media spotlight as the only local whomight be able to follow what is happening on the Poseidon, and his anticsas he tries to live up to the billing. And we see two top military officers(different countries) who think the best solution to the whole mess is toblast the upside-down ship to little bits.

The author allowed manycliches into his story, although in the seventies cliches were much morepopular than today. The old Dutch captain and his 16-year old daughter, theswashbuckler, the Communist (Bela) with a taste for decadence, the underdog(original survivor James Martin) determined to prove to everyone that he isa man, the pirate with a hidden heart of gold (Jason), etc. And while theystruggle against each other, the unstable earth which spawned the notorioustidal wave is on the move again...

BTPA won't survive modern scrutiny,but if you willingly suspend your disbelief and just read the story, youcan really enjoy the ride. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Favorite book
This is a favorite story from my childhood, my children's childhoods, and now I have a granddaughter who loves it too!
Disney made it into a movie that was good, but reading Paul Gallico's original story is so much better!
Highly recommended for ANY animal or book lover!

My favorite "cat" book of all time.
I love cats and dogs, always have.So after 40 years of loving them, I've read almost everything by everyone about them.I'd seen Disney's Thomasina as a child, so when I saw the book for sale used I grabbed it.
I am enthralled by its beauty, depth and charm.The story wound its way around my heart and never let go.

I also recommend THE UGLY DACHSUND - a funny out-of-print story about dogs and TAILCHASER'S SONG, a watership-down type story, but wonderful.And two of my all-time favorites, THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY and WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS.
Nothing I've read in the last 15 years, no fiction at least, can touch these beloved stories.
If you enjoy non-fiction and enjoyed Thomasina, read THE DOG WHO RESCUES CATS about an adoreable little mutt Ginny who finds and rescues injured and needy stray cats.It will melt your heart.

Cat Magick
I first encountered "Thomasina, The Cat Who Thought She Was God" in the library of my parochial grade-school, almost 40 years ago.I imagine the deacons were utterly unaware of what a "subversive",shamanic book they were providing their 2nd-grade student!Perhaps theywere lulled by the innocuous Disney film version.Certainly they could notsuppose that Paul Gallico would write "merely" a simplecat-story?For it is the combined power of Christianity and Paganism,interwoven with the ancient Egyptian cat-magick of Bubastis, which savesthe souls of all the characters of this story.Set in rural Scotland inthe early 50's, this is the tale ofhard-hearted widowed veterinarianAndrew McDhui, his little daughter, and her beloved cat Thomasina. Resentful of his daughter's affection for her pet, he callously ordersThomasina destroyed.When his child falls ill from grief, it takes all thelove of the village bairns, the Protestant vicar, the feared andmisunderstood Red Witch of the Glen -- and the interference of the DivineFeline, Bast Herself -- to bring about a miracle and restore McDhui's faithin God.This is an inspired story about the many Paths which can be takento that faith, and the varied and equally-legitimate aspects of God/dess. Bast has walked beside me since I first met Her through"Thomasina".Even now, as I reread the book every few years, Ifind it an emotionally-draining but spiritually-uplifting experience. Andyes, it is also a good cat-story.

Charming and memorable
I don't like all Paul Gallico's work, but this one is charming and beautifully written. Tomasina gives as a true cat's view of hunans and the world, and is loveable for all her conceit. Everyone who loves a cat willrecognise her.

THE BEST!!
This book was the most touching story I had ever read. I actually felt deep sorrow and almost cried when Thomasina was going to be destroyed. This is a great book. It may be long, and slow reading, but I recommend it toany one who likes cats, and exciting page-turning stories! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very different from the movie
I have read reviews of the movie that was made from this book and the people criticized it because it was so different from the book.I personally like the movie better, but the book is interesting (and well-written), too.Either way, if you don't have an interest in Christmas and Indians, you probably won't be as likely to enjoy it. ... Read more

Product Description
Mrs Harris was going to Paris ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A charming little lady
When Mrs Harris , a London cleaning lady,sets her eyes ona Dior dress for the first time, she knows she just has to have one. No mean feat for someone who earns 3 shillings a day. This story is as charming as she is and tells about the lives she changes on her way to reaching her goal.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

flowers for Mrs Harris
i want to get infor mation about books as example Flowers for Mrs Harris ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good mushy love story
I was first introduced to Paul Gallico at a young age. The movie Lili was based on his short story Love of Seven Dolls. Since then I've read his stories off and on. "The Lonely" is about a soldier Jerry in World War II who has a sweetheart at home. He gets a few days leave and decides to spend it with a local RAF girl Patches. He explains from the get go that he is only interested in a fling. But through the vacation he changes his opinions on her, the plain Patches suddenly becomes beautiful. When the vacation's over Jerry realizes that he's in love. But telling his narrow-minded Suburban parents turns out to be a harder task than he thought.
The book is short only around 120 so pages. It's worth a read. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of Gallico's stories, including "The Snow Goose", his most famous story, set in the wild, desolate Essex marshes as well as "The Small Miracle", "Love of Seven Dolls" and "Ludmila". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not as good as the TV show
ITC made a short-lived TV series out of The Zoo Gang in the late seventies, starring Barry Morse, John Mills, and Brian Keith. Whereas the TV series (complete with haunting music by Paul McCartney) is elegantly written acted and produced, the book (which is the source of several of the plots) is not so good. The plots are great, but the writing is clunky and the dialogue uninspired. A fun read, but not something you should put a lot of trouble into getting hold of. Watch the TV show instead (available on region 1 dvd at amazon.co.uk) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Beautiful Story
Love Of Seven Dolls is a beautiful story, it should only take you a night to read. I was influenced by Lilly when I was a kid, revisited the film as an adult, and then led to read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What is Love?
Love of Seven Dolls is perhaps the most beautiful story ever written. It is brief, sweet, and full of enchantment that renders several wonderful messages for the reader.

The story begins with the suicide attempt of a very lonely young woman in Paris. She believes that she is a failure because she is unattractive and has been expelled from her job. She feels lonely and without recourse in life except to end her life in order to alleviate the pain that engulfs every particle of her being. However hopeless the young girl feels, she does not pursue death because her life changes gradually with the relationship she establishes with seven wonderful puppets. The puppets become her friends, her comfort and solace in life as they find goodness and love through each other.

Evil however is embodied in the man behind the orchestrated voices of the seven puppets who uses the young woman to work for him in his puppets' shows. He takes advantage of her and travels with her and his puppets to perform in circuses around the Parisian countryside. The man is abusive of the young woman as he is with his loyal servant. He condescends upon both of his workers and makes them feel like invaluable persons. However, the young woman nonetheless continues her friendship with the seven puppets as she lovingly opens up to them and they become the goodness that permeates her life. Eventually, the young woman meets another circus man who courts her and proposes marriage. The young woman decides to marry him, but ultimately decides not to do so because, while all alone, she hears the seven puppets begin to speak among themselves deliberating on how they will continue their puppet acts without her. The seven puppets decide among themselves that their performances cannot go on without her, they cannot continue to live without the person that gave them so much life. The puppets decide to cease to exist. Upon hearing this, the young girl speakes to the puppets and convinces them not to end their lives as show puppets. At this point, the once wretched man behind the puppets comes forth and shows himself to the young woman. Without using the puppets he reveals himself to the young woman and his true nature that is indeed good, not evil; love, not hate. The young woman forgives his past abuses of her and realizes she has always loved the goodness that she felt was within him. She decides to stay with him and the seven puppets.

The story is enchanting moreso because the author uniquely weaves the concepts of goodness, evil, and God in such artistic wrting and the creation of characters. Goodness and evil, as Paul Gallico has written, is in everyone, in man and puppets alike, but it is in our ability to see through the evil and to forgive that we surrender to love.

I beg to differ!
I don't think that this short novel is deserving of all the lauding reviews that it has been given by other reviewers. Although the book is indeed boundless in potential...there were some fundamental flaws that I found hard to ignore.

I found Mouche too whiny and passive a character. I understand that this is just a fiction...but really - her docility was just petrifying! I found it too unreal that someone would be raped, abused, chided, and kept as a profitable concubine by a schizoid ventriloquist by night, and then laugh and play with this same demon in the disguise of seven little dolls by day. Honestly, could a normal person miss this link? I actually ended up concluding that Mouche is insane herself, and that the book amply demonstrates how birds of the same breed will flock together. Paul Gallico tries his best to portray Mouche as having some kind of an angelic, untanishable innocence - - but the truth is that she is dangerously passive, and has a major paralysis in character.

My review would be incomplete if I didn't mention Golo, the Senegalese slave/messenger who is also helplessly passive. He is kicked around by the degenerate clown and he actually seems to be convinced that this is his rightful place in society. Some of the stereotypes made by the writer himself about Senegalese/African culture can only be called absurd, but then these are only prejudices of his day. This novel was written in the 1950s.

The ending was disappointing. I still felt as though Mouche had fallen in love with the seven dolls, and not with Peyrot. This book might be good in demonstrating existentialism, but I couldn't bare the incensing passivity of its characters.

Passionate, brilliant storytelling
After seeing the beautifully moving film, Lili, I had to read the novella it was based upon.That led me to Love of Seven Dolls.I expected something similar to Lili's colorful, soulful setting, but Gallico is anything but.His writing is a storm of emotions, action, and darkness - inexplicably compelling and enrapturing.The language isn't particularly polished or eloquent, but the feeling behind them is breathtakingly fierce.Through simple, almost juevenile words, Gallico takes you into the anti-hero Michel Peyrot's mind.He's half-mad and starved of any human kindness.The use of the seven puppets is a stroke of genius and perfectly illuminates Michel's sadly distorted spirit.The protagonist, Mouche, is abused, tender, and childlike, but is wise beyond her time as we see when we delve into her humility, forgiveness, gratitude.

I found some parts to be rather disturbing, but this is a study of the best and worst of humanity: Mouche's heroism and Michel's depravity.It's not simple or even realistic, but it mines psychological nuances uncannily, reminiscent of A Streetcar Named Desire.Recommended for mature readers.

A Love Story Between Two Souls
This slender little novel is possibly one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. Inspired by puppeteers Fran Allison and Burr Hillstrom (to whom it is dedicated), this haunting tale by Paul Gallico weaves a spell of wonder, pain and enchantment. It is a love story in which innocent love (personified by the gamin, Mouche) and cynical hatred (embodied by the evil puppeteer, Michel Peyrot) are locked in mortal combat for the ultimate prize of the man's soul. Peyrot, who goes under the stage name Captain Coq, had a nightmarish childhood and adolescence devoid of human love. His bitter view of his fellow man is only solidified by his experiences in a war. He decides that God deserves nothing but his mockery, so to mock his Creator the man carves puppets, forming them into all of the facets of his complex personality. There are seven dolls: Ali the clumsy giant, self-absorbed and jealous Gigi, world-weary Madame Muscat, kindly Monsieur Nicholas, the bookwormish Dr. Duclos, efficient and clever Carrot-Top, and the thieving fox Reynardo. At first carved to amuse the guards when Peyrot is a POW, the puppets begin to take on a life of their own. This is shown when the girl Mouche walks toward the Seine River to end her miserable life. The puppets call out to her and draw her into their magical world; she interacts with them as though they are living beings like herself. Mouche is so charming that she becomes part of the act. Unfortunately, the master of the puppets is a cruel man who has given himself over to an existence devoted to evil. He despises the girl for the very innocence that makes her such a successful part of his puppet show. To her face, Peyrot shows the depths of his cruelty, even raping her in a vain attempt to debase her to his level. Yet though he can ravage her body, he cannot touch her soul, which is healed anew every day by the love he shows her through his puppets. His inability to reconcile his hatred for general humanity with the unwelcome tenderness Mouche arouses in him leads to schizophrenia, which is manifested by the schism between himself and the puppets. After a time, he does not control them; they compel him to change. In the end, when Mouche prepares to leave, he reveals his plan to commit suicide through the dolls, who plan to destroy themselves. She then realizes who the puppets truly are, and her love for Peyrot brings him back from the edge of the pit into which he'd planned to fling himself. He weeps in remorse, his deformed soul at last becoming human. Feminists would doubtless be upset by her forgiveness of this man's cruelty, but women have long possessed an amazing ability to embrace men's imperfections.(Which is not to say that women are perfect.) Long before psychobabble such as Martian Men and Venusian Women surfaced, this story served to beautifully point out that men and women may be equal, but they are certainly not the same. This is a magical tale, woven by a master story-teller. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A Beautiful Book
My parents read this haunting and lovely story to my siblings and me when we were in our teens, my husband and I read it to our children, and now my oldest grandchild is ready to hear it. Until now I have avoided purchasing The Snow Goose with pictures, finding that illustrations detracted from the story. I am delighted to find that Angela Barrett's beautiful subtly colored illustrations capture the mood of the story perfectly. (I especially love the tender drawing of Rhayader and Frith looking up at the circling snow goose, where Frith's hair, blown by the wind, softens and obscures Rhayader's deformities.) I will be purchasing several copies of this edition for sisters and friends as well as for my grandson. It is a real treasure.

Snow Goose
I am so please with the condition of this book.It is in beautiful condition.

DESERVES CLASSIC STATUS
First heard about this book from the Camel album of the same name - back in the late 70's - beautiful music dedicated to the book.

The book can be read in one sitting - in fact I did just that recently - reading it to my daughter(11 years old)- took me 40 minutes of non step reading.

The story is set in WW2: and is in many ways a remaking of "Beauty and the Beast" - with a mishapen and physically grotesque man befriending a young girl. The local community has rejected the young hunch-back who lives alone in a deserted lighthouse - which itself is symbolic of enlightenment.

A bird (a snowgoose) brings and keeps the two of them together as over the years they await its comings and goings and tend to its needs. The main theme of the book is plainly statedat the start by the author,who says:

"In it there lived a lonely man. His body was warped, but his heart was filled with love for wild and hunted things. He was ugly to look upon, but he created great beauty. It is about him, and a child who came to know him and see beyond the grotesque form that housed him to what lay within, that this story is told."

The love of the man for the bird and for the little girl is slowly and overwhelmingly reciprocated as she grows to see the beauty of his spirit. His love for mankind is demonstrated by his selfless act of rescuing the stranded soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk - using his little boat to pick them up and take them to waiting ships.

This final enactment is relayed by conversations we overhear of soldiers telling the story of the man's rescue - with the snowgoose circling overhead throughout.

I will not spoil the story by giving the ending away.

The book is wonderfully written, and expresses a profound love of mankind and nature. It is inspirational and should be read.

A great book, perhaps 5-star if you identify with the British or Europeans
I bought it sight unseen based on the Camel album that was inspired by this book (and which I recommend, in the original version without any extras).

I found it perhaps a little grim as a children's book, but appropriate for that very reason for more mature children. Perhaps not for those who already tend towards melancholy.

The only reason I give it 4 rather than 5 stars is simply that I found it hard to really place myself in England during WWII, and I think the book is lacking a bit of context.Presumably British and Northern Europeans will still get the context in their upbringing for a few generations yet to come, but 60+ years later, in the southwestern U.S., it seems so distant as to be a fable.

Unknown in Italy
Emotion and feeling become characters in this little masterpiece.
I wonder why this book is completely unknown here in Italy,
where no edition is available.
I bought the original version from Amazon and translated it myself for my family.
Beautiful pictures.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Simple but compelling
Gallico's tale of a little Italian orphan and his donkey is a simple little fable but told with such conviction that it touches the heart and mind.A wonderful little story with a message of faith for the reader.

What Friends do for Friends
Set in Italy in the 1920's, this simple tale of a child's faith in St. Francis of Assisi takes the reader back to a gentler time of trust in the power of the Church.Orphaned Pepino depends upon his beloved doneky,Violetta, for companionship as well as for income, as they perform odd jobsabout the village.His sole legacy from his deceased parents, Violettafunctions as both friend and family to the street urchin.Thus when shebeocmes incurably ill, his distress is genuine; his desperation knows no bounds.

An American soldier, who had befriended him during the war,advised him never to accept NO as an answer. Suddenly he recalls that mottoand employs all manner of smiles and wiles as he pleads for a chance tosave her life.He will do anything to obtain permission to bring hisdonkey directly into the crypt of his beloved St. Francis.He has implicitfaith that the Saint who loved all animals will work a miraculous cure.

Ah, but before the Saint gets a chance to bestow (or withhold) his healinggrace, Pepino must overcome serious Temporal obstacles, for the lowerentrance to the tomb has been sealed for centuries.This open-ended tale leaves readers free to form their own opinion regarding the outcome of hisemotional mission (as in THE LADY OR THE TIGER).We can only hope thatDivine intervention will triumph--that a boy'sfaith will be rewarded.Amodest story of trust and devotion which will appeal to the child inreaders of all ages. A perfect choice for the Easter season.

I felt it wasn;t that great do to not enough details.
I disliked the book because it wasn't all that interesting;it kept ondragging on about the boy trying to get help for the donkey. He wouldalways be begging the priest to let him go to this town so he could gethelpfor his donkey. The book could have had more charactors and talkedabout them a little more and they could have had more about the boy besidesthe fact that he was an orphan,they could have written where his parentswere and how he became an orphane. They could of told us more about the boyand his past life. ... Read more