This volume brings together two of Paul Wests best books his critically acclaimed quotWords for a Deaf Daughterquot 1970 a nonfiction account of Wests deaf and braindamaged daughter Mandy at age eight and quotGalaquot 1976 a novel about a writer named Wight Deulius who brings his handicapped teenage daughter Michaela from England to America for a visit While Words is an account of Mandys diagnosis and treatment Gala is quotthe scenario of a wishfulfillmentquot as West writes in the preface a continuation of the father and daughters joyful investigation of the richness of life and its amazing possibilities Ranging across natural history and astronomy in his effort to understand his daughters handicap West finds in MandyMichaela an irrepressible and unpredictable guide to the mysteries of the universe Brought together in the same volume the books also allow a unique look at how nonfiction and fiction techniques can be used to the same ends in the hands of a master of prose
