The Diary of a Goose Girl tells the story of a young woman who tires of civilization, and moves to a small village in England "in search of the strenuous life, and eager to wait, rather than to be waited upon."

"I am very tired of people," she wrote, "and want to rest myself by living a while with things."

"I rely upon you to keep an honorable distance yourselves, and not to divulge my place of retreat to others, especially to -- you know whom! Do not pursue me. I will never be taken alive!"

Her story of her life on a farm, keeping hens, Belgian hares, and especially geese, and her portraits of those she abides with form the basis of a charming tale.