They were charmed, and so was I.īut what of the puppeteer? The man who created such wonderful characters. He was an orphan like Mouche, but he was a troubled and unhappy man who would ill treat his new protegé and the young boy who worked for him? She quite forgot that there was a man behind the theatre working the puppets.Ī crowd gathered to watch the interplay between girl and puppets. such a contrast from the world she had wanted to escape minutes before. She had found friends, and she had found the warmth and magic of theatre of her dreams. Seven puppet with characteristics so human that you could forget what they were. Mr Reynardo the scallywag fox, a loveable rogue…

Later there would be Dr Duclos, a pompous penguin. She would see seven, they all came out to see what was going on and to talk to Mouche.įirst would be Carrot Top, careworn and caring manager of the show. Who called Mouche back? At first all that she could see was an empty puppet booth with a sign announcing “Captaine Coq et sa Famille.” Then she saw a puppet.

“Well? Cat got your tongue? Speak up when you’re spoken to.” “What’s the big tragedy? Your boyfriend give you the air? There’s plenty more fish in the sea.” “It’s cold at the bottom of the river, little one, and the eels and crayfish eat your flesh.” “Hello there, you with the suitcase! Where are you going and what’s your hurry?” Paul Gallico, as ever the consummate storyteller, sets the scene perfectly.

She looked like the simple country girl she was. And so she found herself at the age of twenty-two with no money, no home, and no friends to help her. But she found that she had neither the talent nor the looks needed to succeed. She dreamed of the stage and so she worked and save until she could come to Paris. The story opens on the banks of the Seine where a young girl, Mouche, is planning to throw herself in.

The author, that title, the concept – completely irresistable! loudly as the others called, this one called that little bit louder. There were so many books that I would have loved to provide a new home for but I was horribly restrained and came away with just the one. A secondhand bookshop with massed ranks of paperbacks lining the staircase and a good few yards of shelves of older hardback fiction upstairs is not to be missed. I recalled a small bookshop in a side street, so of course I had to take a look. A trip to Truro led to a most interesting turn for my Paris in July.

Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico