The Girl from the Sea and other stories

The stories included in this collection are classics of children's literature and have been cherished by generations of Portuguese children. This is the first time these stories have been translated into English. The author is one of Portugal's greatest poets and, like her poetry, these stories are filled with her delight and pleasure in nature, gardens and the sea, as well as her keen sense of the magical. Among other things, we encounter dwarves, diminutive little girls who live on the sea bed, plants that come alive at night, a tree that lives on long after it has been felled, and a pilgrim who discovers much more than the Holy Land. Her themes are, above all, loyalty and friendship.Carlo misses his father. His parents are separated, he is with his mother in Germany while his father is back in their native Palermo. His father is always about to visit but somehow never quite gets to Germany. Carlo gets tired of waiting and decides to do something about it and sets off for Palermo [...]but without any money to pay his fare. What happens is a series of adventures when anything that could go wrong does but Carlo despite everything gets to Palermo and lands up at his Papa's door. Will reality live up to Carlo's dreams?