The Silver Donkey

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The Silver Donkey is a young-adult fiction book written by Sonya Hartnett, set during World War I. The book traces the journey of an English soldier who deserts the war and comes across two young girls in the French countryside, Marcelle and Coco. The girls help the soldier, who suffers psychological blindness as an effect of post-traumatic stress, to plan a way to cross the English Channel back to his brother. The girls bring him food and, in turn, he tells them moralistic tales about courage, perseverance and trying your best at all odds. Though his stories are fiction, one is not; the story of his younger brother John who, while being extremely ill, finds a small silver donkey whilst digging in the garden. The soldier carries the silver donkey with him everywhere for luck, hope and inspiration, which along with hope and luck, spread to Coco when the soldier gives her the donkey. The soldier told the children stories about donkeys and how donkeys are brave and loyal to humans.
The story can be seen in two ways: from an adult's perspective, or from that of a child's innocence.