Author of the month – Paul Gallico

THE EARLY LIFE OF PAUL GALLICO

Paul William Gallico (1897 – 1976), was born in New York City to an Italian father and Austrian mother and began his writing career in the 1920’s as a sports journalist on the New York Daily News. His interview with the then champion boxer Jack Dempsey, with whom he sparred and was knocked unconscious, propelled him to fame as one of America’s highest paid sportswriters, earning him exclusives with sporting legends of his day, such as baseball’s Dizzy Dean and golf’s Bobby Jones.

GALLICOS BRAVE DECISION

In the late 1930’s, Gallico made the brave decision to abandon sports journalism and devote his time to writing fiction. His initial ‘genre’ was short-form fiction targeted at magazines, many appearing in the then leading outlet – The Saturday Evening Post, including what later went on to be his most successful work The Snow Goose (1941) – later to be made into stage productions, songs, and a film. Gallico then proceeded to publish around forty other works of fiction and non-fiction covering an eclectic range of subjects including action/adventure, whimsical stories about magic, romance, stories for children, biographies (including Saint Patrick), a book about the World War 2 ‘Hurricane’ fighter plane, and several books about cats!

 

WHAT DOES GALLICO SAY ABOUT HIMSELF?

Gallico said of himself,

“I am a rotten novelist. Im not even literary. I just like to tell stories and all my books tell stories…”

and while some accused The Snow Goose of being overly sentimental, Gallico made no apology saying,
 

“in the contest between sentiment and slime, sentiment remains so far out in front, as it always has and always will among ordinary humans that the calamity-howlers and porn merchants have to increase the decibels of their lamentations, the hideousness of their violence and the mountainous piles of their filth to keep in the race at all."

The Snow Goose (1951)

 

 

 

 

 

The Small Miracle (1955)

 

Country House Library holds vintage copies of the author’s 1951 novel The Small Miracle which tells the story of Pepino, a poor orphan, and his donkey Violetta. When Violetta falls ill, and the vet cannot do anything for her, Pepino tries to get permission to take her into the crypt of St. Francis. But when that permission is denied, then he realises that he has to go to higher authority! One critic said,

 “I defy anyone from getting a lump in the throat on the first reading.”

 

 

Browse the full Paul Gallico Vintage Collection

GALLICO MOVED AROUND DURING HIS LIFE

Gallico moved from his native New York to the idyllic English seaside village of Salcombe in Devon, where he used to dictate his writing to his assistant, who would type into manuscript that same evening. He later lived in Mexico, Liechtenstein, Monaco and lastly Antibes, where he died and was buried. His New York Times obituary read,

"to say that Mr. Gallico was prolific hardly begins to describe his output."

He wrote 41 books and numerous short stories, 20 theatrical movies, 12 TV movies, and had a TV series based on his Hiram Holliday short stories.

Country House Library holds a selection of vintage Paul Gallico novels. Discover this most versatile of authors here and please check back regularly as our stock is always changing.