I am pleased it has won because the short story has been a neglected form. It is an epic story told in a very few words. He said: “I still have the copy with my 13-year-old handwriting in it. The ending, a tribute to the indomitable human spirit, is unforgettable and the illustrations by Angela Barrett are perfect in the way they portray the remoteness and raw beauty of the Great Marsh.Ī winner in Radio 4’s search to identify literature’s most neglected novel the short story was championed by Michael Morpurgo, the leading children’s author. The Snow Goose is beautifully poetic set prior to and during the Second World War it is written in simple, lyrical prose. Touching, heart-breaking and at only 45 pages it asks the question why some authors need write hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages when a book this short says so much. The story of the man whose physical deformities prevent others from seeing the beauty within is as old as time but the way in which Gallico weaves it together with the maturing life of a young girl, the migration of a Canadian snow goose and the evacuation at Dunkirk make it unique. You are uplifted, but the tragic events that have just unfolded will also leave you with a tear in your eye. When you finish reading The Snow Goose you are left with conflicting emotions. But the story of the saviour with the snow goose passes from soldier to soldier and into legend. But this is 1940 and Rhayader is setting sail for Dunkirk to help the soldiers trapped on the beaches.

Time passes and one year Fritha is frightened to discover her feelings for Rhayader. The following winter, the snow goose and Fritha return to the lighthouse. When the snow goose departs for home, Rhayader is left alone again.

At first Fritha is scared of Rhayader, with his sinister hump and crooked hand, but he is gentle and kind and Fritha begins to visit regularly. One afternoon, a hauntingly beautiful child, Fritha, visits Rhayader, bringing with her an injured snow goose. Philip Rhayader lives alone in an abandoned lighthouse on the desolate Great Marsh of Essex.

The Abandoned by Paul Gallico