At the Back of the North Wind

New York: Franklin Watts, Inc. / Nonesuch Press, 1964. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Very Good. 0x0x0. Mozley, Charles. First American edition. Includes acetate jacket. Jacket flap price-clipped. 1964 Hard Cover. vi, 276 pp. Illustrated by Charles Mozley. Set in London around 1900, the young boy Diamond has to learn to drive Diamond the horse, which pulls his father's cab. The family is very poor and sometimes starving, and he sleeps over the stables where the horses are kept, but he is such a happy child that folks call him 'God's Baby'. And he is no ordinary boy: one night he is visited in his bedroom by North Wind, who is a beautiful woman, a breeze, or a storm, as she chooses. He discovers that she plays a powerful role in our lives and she is able to take him on a dozen wild adventures and teach him many things about the world that very few know, be they adult or child. He is even privileged to see the land at the Back of the North Wind. There is also a 'story within a story' in this book, which is worth reading on its own. It is a classical fairy story about Princess Daylight, who is blessed at birth by the good witches, but cursed by a bad one. A prince has to sort it out and they live happily ever after. However, Diamond's story has a tragic but beautiful ending. 'North Wind' is different to the 'Princess and Curdie' stories, but strangely similar.