Noughts and crosses;: Stories, studies, and sketches

by Arthur Quiller-Couch

Once upon a time there was born a boy-child -- with a magic shadow. The birth, on the night of a new moon, took place down a narrow alley. The sun never penetrated there beyond the third-storey windows -- which is why the charwoman, his mother, was so long in discovering her child's strange gift. One day, when she and her boy were out playing, the boy stopped for a moment. He stood and smiled at her with the sun at his back -- and his shadow lay upon the whitened steps. But the silhouette was not that of a little breeched boy at all, but of a little girl in petticoats -- with long curls, where the charwoman's son was close-cropped! "The Magic Shadow" is one of the dozen-plus stories of everyday life -- and of not-so-everyday delight and wonder -- in Naughts and Crosses, by the author of The Splendid Spur.

Genres: Fantasy

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch was a Cornish writer, who published under the pen name of Q. He is primarily remembered for the monumental "Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900" (later extended to 1918), and for his literary criticism. He guided the taste of many who never met him, including American writer Helene Hanff, author of 84 Charing Cross Road, its sequel, Q's Legacy, and the putatively fictional Horace Rumpole via John Mortimer, his literary amanuensis.

Reviews

[Peter Worsham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was a really interesting concept, set in a reverse-racism world, and the story was brilliant. Very powerful book with a very powerful message.