Adela Cathcart

Adelia Cathcart has an illness of the spirit -- perhaps an illness of the soul. No one -- not her father, her neighbors, not even the curate of her parish nor his doctor brother can scry the secret of her malady. So they read her stories. Beautiful, beautiful stories. Now they read the tale of "The Giant's Heart." The Giant used to catch little children and plant them in his garden, where you might see them in rows, with their heads only above ground, rolling their eyes about, and growing awfully fast. He liked greedy boys best -- boys that ate plum-pudding till they felt as if their belts were too tight. Because he was so fond of radishes, he lived just on the borders of Giantland, where it touched on the country of common people. . . . As Adelia makes her recovery, and finds something more. . . .


Genre: Literary Fiction