by Paul Gallico
Red Square zoomed in again, passers-by passed by. The queue still waited outside Lenin’s tomb, pigeons arose, bells pealed. Mrs Harris and Mrs Butterfield fell into one another’s arms screaming with laughter, and remained there shouting helplessly until the commercial faded from the screen.
A Note on the Author
PAUL GALLICO was born in New York City, of Italian and Austrian parentage, in 1897, and attended Columbia University. From 1922 to 1936 he worked on the New York Daily News as sports editor, columnist, and assistant managing editor. In 1936 he bought a house on top of a hill at Salcombe in South Devon and settled down with a Great Dane and twenty-three assorted cats. It was in 1941 that he made his name with The Snow Goose, a classic story of Dunkirk which became a worldwide bestseller. Having served as a gunner’s mate in the U.S. Navy in 1918, he was again active as a war correspondent with the American Expeditionary Force in 1944. Gallico, who later lived in Monaco, was a first-class fencer and a keen sea-fisherman.
He wrote over forty books, four of which were the adventures of Mrs Harris: Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (1958), Mrs Harris Goes to New York (1959), Mrs Harris MP (1965) and Mrs Harris Goes to Moscow (1974), all of which have been reissued by Bloomsbury Publishing, alongside Coronation (1962). One of the most prolific and professional of American authors, Paul Gallico died in July 1976.
Also available by Paul Gallico
MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
& MRS HARRIS GOES TO NEW YORK
Mrs Harris is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the rich. One day, when tidying Lady Dant’s wardrobe, she comes across the most beautiful thing she has ever seen – a Dior dress. She’s never seen anything as magical and she’s never wanted anything as much. Determined to make her dream come true, Mrs Harris scrimps, saves and slaves away until one day, she finally has enough money to go to Paris. Little does she know how her life is about to be transformed forever …
Part charlady, part fairy godmother, Mrs Harris’s adventures take her from her humble Battersea roots to the heights of glamour in Paris and New York as she learns some of life’s greatest lessons along the way.
‘Mrs Harris is one of the great creations of fiction – so real that you feel you know her, yet truly magical as well. I can never have enough of her’
JUSTINE PICARDIE
MRS HARRIS MP
London charlady Mrs Harris cheerfully spends her days cleaning the homes of the wealthy. But her knack of setting things straight often has a tendency to stray beyond keeping things neat and tidy …
Honest, forthright and thoroughly down-to-earth, Mrs Harris’s views on life soon attract the interest of one of her clients, who just happens to be an MP. When he encourages her to be a voice for the people of Battersea and stand for election as an independent candidate, it seems like a dream come true. But the slippery world of politics proves a test for a lady as good and proper as Mrs Harris. Political skulduggery, the glare of the media and the apparent betrayal of a trusted friend are all issues she just hadn’t bargained on …
‘The char with the golden heart’
SUNDAY TIMES
CORONATION
Imagine seeing the Queen that close as she goes by in her golden carriage! The kiddies will have something to tell their kiddies, won’t they? And a drink of real champagne to go with it!
Coronation Day, 2 June 1953! A humble, working-class family from Sheffield is desperate to buy train tickets to London to see the coronation, but doing so means forsaking their annual seaside holiday. After some scrimping and saving, and a family meeting in which the enthusiasm of the children overrules the reluctance of their long-suffering mother and grandmother, the Clagg family take the plunge and buy premium, champagne tickets for the big day.
But alas, not everything goes smoothly. Will their tickets be everything they hoped for and dreamed? Will Granny stop grumbling that it’s all a waste of money? And, most importantly, will they all get to see their beloved Queen? In this tender and heartwarming story, Paul Gallico brings to life the joy and fervor that swept the nation.
WWW.BLOOMSBURY.COM/PAULGALLICO
First published in Great Britain by
William Heinemann Ltd 1974
This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Paul Gallico, 1974
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4088 3201 1
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