This volume brings together two of Paul West's best books: his critically acclaimed Words for a Deaf Daughter (1970), a nonfiction account of West's deaf and brain-damaged daughter Mandy at age eight, and Gala (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 Mandy's diagnosis and treatment, Gala is the scenario of a wish-fulfillment...