The Old Woman who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle

The old tale of rags to riches and back again is given a new flavour in Rumer Godden's version, first published some ten years ago and now issued in a full-size paperback. Here, the main character is an old woman whose home is shaped like a vinegar bottle (the old fashioned stone variety) and who lives with Malt, her cat. Despite her hunger, she throws a fish, given her by some fishermen, back into the sea. The fish grants her wishes which become increasingly demanding till at last he tires of her avarice, tells her she is greedy and she is returned to her vinegar bottle. Mairi Hedderwick's watercolours have a Hebridean flavour and beautifully capture the humour of a text that is longish for a picture book, but which has a powerful holding quality.