Puffin held a celebration party last night, in honour of Philippa Pearce, who has just published The Little Gentleman, her first full-length fiction for twenty years. Illustrated by Patrick Benson, who could not be at the event, it is a wonderfully written story about a girl's friendship with a mole, who has been given the power of speech and the mixed blessing of immortality. The author, now in her eighties, stayed late at the party, signing books for guests.
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