The Snow Goose (original 1941; edition 1976)

I read this book a long time ago, and what I remember is the depiction of the rescue of the soldiers at Dunkirk by a fleet of small boats. I think this was the first I'd heard of it. ( )

BBC forgotten classic

Tiny little book, but an excellent read. Touching, uplifting, joyous, and heartbreaking. ( )

This is a lovely little book. Full of tenderness – in the characters of the young girl who finds a hurt bird and in the hunchback who tends to its wounds; and in the language used to describe the great marsh, which sounds as if it would be a forbidding place, but which descriptions feel as if they are uttered with love by the author or perhaps felt by the artist he pens.

Primarily, The Snow Goose is a sweet story about relationships, of the snow goose and the two who saved it. But 1940 was a dangerous time in that part of the world, and breath is held awaiting the outcome, while one character waits, and two leave their marsh to assist in the rescue at Dunkirk.

Spanning ten years in 58 pages, but needing not a line more, the story is short but poignant. This book is a treasure and deserves every one of the 5 stars that is mine to give. ( )

Physical deformity often breeds hatred of humanity in men. Rhayader did not hate; he loved very greatly, man, the animal kingdom, and all nature. His heart was filled with pity and understanding. He had mastered his handicap, but he could not master the rebuffs he suffered, due to his appearance. The thing that drove him into seclusion was his failure to find anywhere a return of the warmth that flowed from him. (p. 8)

Philip Rhayader lived alone in a lighthouse in the marshes of Essex, in England. Alone, he tended birds in his sanctuary, and painted the surrounding landscape. One day, a young girl named Frith brought him an injured snow goose. The goose had been blown off course during its annual migration in Canada. Then, on landing in the marsh, she was shot by hunters. Rhayader rehabilitated and released the bird, and then something highly unusual happened: the snow goose returned year after year. And each year, Frith returned to visit Rhayader and the goose. Their shared affection for the snow goose mirrored the growing bond between them. One day, Frith encounters Rhayader readying his boat to sail. He has decided to sail for Dunkirk, to help with the evacuation of British soldiers. When he leaves, the snow goose sets sail with him, flying in circles over the small boat. Fritha is left behind to care for the other birds and look after Rhayader's paintings. From this point the story crescendos into a heart-wrenching tale of love and hope.

Gallico's writing is absolutely gorgeous.
Tidal creeks and estuaries and the crooked, meandering arms of many little rivers whose mouths lap at the edge of the ocean cut through the sodden land that seems to rise and fall and breathe with the recurrence of the daily tides. It is desolate, utterly lonely, and made lonelier by the calls and cries of the wildfowl that make their homes in the marshlands and saltings -- the wildgeese and the gulls, the teal and the widgeon, the tedshanks and curlews that pick their way through the tidal pools. (p. 5)

This may be a children's book, but its lessons of love, friendship, and valor are timeless and just as meaningful for adult readers. ( )