Love, Let Me Not Hunger

by Paul Gallico

A new vein for Paul Gallico, but one that will not disappoint his admirers and that may well create a new audience. There is, to be sure, that competence of craftsmanship:- Gallico integrates his plot, his characters, his background into a flawless whole. But this time he has told a story of many facets of love against a unique background, that of a small English travelling circus stranded by ... disaster in a remote part of the seemingly limitless plain of La Mancha, in Spain. The principals of the story are the members of the circus ""family""- and in particular those left to handle the animals of the menagerie, of the acts and the horses when the big top is struck by lightning and burns down. Then there is Rose, who chooses to stay with Toby of the equestrian troupe, and Mr. Albert, who has taught her to love the wild animals as he does. Rose- despite her dubious morals-has managed to keep a strange kind of goodness and innocence, even when she sells the only commodity she owns to secure food for the animals. Then Mr. Albert and the dwarf Janos find that they too have something to sell- to the Marquesa, whose desperate plight can never find recompense in her fortune. It is an odd and enthralling tale.

Genres: Fiction, Spain, Novels

304 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1963

About the author

Paul William Gallico was born in New York City, on 26th July, 1897. His father was an Italian, and his mother came from Austria; they emigrated to New York in 1895.

He went to school in the public schools of New York, and in 1916 went to Columbia University. He graduated in 1921 with a Bachelor of Science degree, having lost a year and a half due to World War I. He then worked for the National Board of Motion Picture Review, and after six months took a job as the motion picture critic for the New York Daily News. He was removed from this job as his "reviews were too Smart Alecky" (according to Confessions of a Story Teller), and took refuge in the sports department.

During his stint there, he was sent to cover the training camp of Jack Dempsey, and decided to ask Dempsey if he could spar with him, to get an idea of what it was like to be hit by the world heavyweight champion. The results were spectacular; Gallico was knocked out within two minutes. But he had his story, and from there his sports-writing career never looked back.

He became Sports Editor of the Daily News in 1923, and was given a daily sports column. He also invented and organised the Golden Gloves amateur boxing competition. During this part of his life, he was one of the most well-known sporting writers in America, and a minor celebrity. But he had always wanted to be a fiction writer, and was writing short stories and sports articles for magazines like Vanity Fair and the Saturday Evening Post. In 1936, he sold a short story to the movies for $5000, which gave him a stake. So he retired from sports writing, and went to live in Europe, to devote himself to writing. His first major book was Farewell to Sport, which as the title indicates, was his farewell to sports writing.

Though his name was well-known in the United States, he was an unknown in the rest of the world. In 1941, the Snow Goose changed all that, and he became, if not a best-selling author by today's standards, a writer who was always in demand. Apart from a short spell as a war correspondent between 1943 and 1946, he was a full-time freelance writer for the rest of his life. He has lived all over the place, including England, Mexico, Lichtenstein and Monaco, and he lived in Antibes for the last years of his life.

He was a first-class fencer, and a keen deep-sea fisherman. He was married four times, and had several children.

He died in Antibes on 15th July, 1976, just short of his 79th birthday.

Reviews

[Duncan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Gallico’s best dark romance. An English circus in the 1960s goes on tour in Spain. After a serious accident, the circus owner and most of the crew return to England. Some of the circus workers are left behind, with no food or money, to look after the animals. When help doesn’t arrive, the situation grows increasingly desperate until each character is drawn to a crisis point.

The physical starvation is a metaphor for each character’s hunger for love. They are a motley crew, with their various physical and emotional deformities. The grotesquery on display make it so much more real. This is not some sanitised TV sitcom filled with ‘the beautiful people.’ This is life in all its unvarnished reality - including the savagery and bitter struggle that is involved, especially for the less fortunate. In this desolate landscape, acts of compassion shine all the brighter.

[Richard Beasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot this one -a third Gallico story that touched me and reduced me to tears.
Wonderful

[Adam Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if I can explain why I loved this book so much. I bought a copy of the circus cover in amazing condition. I felt like I was the only one on earth who had even heard about it.
The story I read slowly as I didn't want it to end. The characters and setting were so vivid I can picture them still. The title is terrible, don't let that put you off. I had no idea where the book was going to go and it went somewhere even better.
Honestly the best book I have read this year.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Due to a dwindling crowds in England on account of that pesky "tellyvision", circus owner Sam Marvel calls all his acts and artisans together on a rainy February in 1962 to inform them that this year they will tour Spain instead, where TV has yet to take root in La Mancha.

Disaster soon strikes in the small town of Zalano, as a shattering storm destroys the main tent and kills a local labourer. The circus property, both animal and material, are made to stay in the town whilst the incident is investigated, with Mr. Marvel heading back to England to deal with his insurer's direct.

A delegation of volunteers stays behind to look after the menagerie, which includes a misogynist elephant named Judy, a trio of big cats, and a troop of performing houses, but the claim drags on and the money to feed the animals runs out...

Though set on a circus, Love, Let Me Not Hunger is hardly about the circus at all. Initially I thought the novel might be about the ups and downs of the performers on tour, but after a brief introduction to them and a glimpse of a show, the storm hits and the story focusses on the deprivation suffered by the stragglers left in Zalano, specifically the effects of starvation.

In a way it's a relief to say goodbye to most of the cast because Gallico portrays the circus fraternity as a closed, mean-spirited bunch; vain, utterly self-possessed and down right cruel to outsiders, such as Rose, a destitute girl who shacks up with one of the clowns.

It's a down-beat, unsentimental read, grimly depressing in places. The plight of the animals is agonizing to read, the callous, squalid nature of the characters a real turn off. Rose spends most of the book being rejected and "used" sexually like a prop, while a father only wants his son in the family because of his importance to the act.

There is some redemption to be found in the twin figures of the tiny, aged beastman Mr. Albert and the gross and magnificent figure of the Marquesa de Pozoblanco. Mr. Albert is held in contempt by his fellow roustabouts, a pathetic figure of no consequence, yet his care and love for the animals is the novel's most humane aspect.

The Marquesa is one of the richest women in Spain, but is afflicted with a glandular condition which has inflated her body to massive proportion. In an unusual twist of considerable pathos, she saves the circus, only at the expense of Mr. Albert's liberty.

Not much fun.

[Maire Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark and quite complex story that can be read on various levels (ie the description that Paul Gallico writes children’s stories for adults.) I felt it was very much about the dysfunction that is caused by abuse and how this damages and distorts relationships. Each of the characters has their reasons for behaviours, some of which are explained and others left for the reader to assume/ponder over. Sex, money, love are all interchangeable and used as currency to barter with. Hunger and deprivation is the thread that runs through the whole book and this hunger and survival is the motivation for most of the decisions made and the subsequent consequences. Animals are often used in Gallico’s books to convey feelings and emotions and this is something (personally) that really resonates for me. I’m now really wondering whether there is a common thread with the Contessa character and Judy, the elephant but as that has only just struck me I’ll need to think further about it!

[Bleu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Marvel knows his circus has not been making the profits it once was, their well-trodden routes around England leaving them with too many empty seats. To improve this summer season, he decides to take his streamlined crew to Spain to try their luck there.

This is news to them all, including; the Walters family, the circus' horse acts; Mr Albert, the elderly beastman desperate to retain his job; Jackdaw Williams, seasoned clown, and Rose, the young woman he found during his winter work who develops an affinity to the animals and with young Toby Walters.

This is a deeply characterful novel following a cast through their challenges and it's impossible not to care and root for them.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

its really sad :(

[Mari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous storyline, cruel and hard hearted, stereotyped characters make it difficult to like this book. The misogyny throughout is blatant and repulsive.

[JW van der Merwe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life of circus people - their ups and downs and what makes them tick. The careful coming into maturity of some characters. Animals play a large role in the story – their hunger and their acceptance and reaction to love. A very interesting book.

[Minnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it in Grade 10 and as I remember it, a wonderful read. I wonder if I'd enjoy it so much now?

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an odd, but very enjoyable story.