Wordless Hostages and Other Stories

American writer and screenwriter Paul Gallico (1897–1976), author of the novels "Thomasina" and "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris," made a name for himself in sports journalism, served in the Navy during World War I, and was a war correspondent during World War II. He traveled the world, was married four times, loved fishing, fencing, and animals — he had twenty-three cats and a Great Dane at home. But most of all, he loved to invent stories. 

In 1941, Gallico published "The White Goose" — a short story about the friendship between a reclusive artist living in an abandoned lighthouse and a girl from a fishing village who appeared at his doorstep with an injured bird in her hands. Following this story of love and war, which earned praise from Hemingway and changed the life of its author, came "Verna" — a tragic tale of a young actress in unrequited love with the stage; "Snowflake" — a philosophical parable about the search for the meaning of existence; "The Silent Hostages" — a grim grotesque set in the Cold War about two ruthless killers on the run... These and other deceptively simple, sad, and amusing stories by Paul Gallico about the struggle of goodness and compassion against the surrounding darkness and despair are published in this collection in translations by Oleg Dorman and with illustrations by Roman Rudnitsky.

The collection includes the stories: "The White Goose," "Verna," "The Terrible Secret of Monsieur Bonval," "The Hat," "The Wonderful Doll," "The Silent Hostages," "Snowflake."