The Little White Horse

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Goudge was awarded the Carnegie Medal for The Little White Horse (1946), the book which J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter stories, has said was her favorite as a child. The television mini-series Moonacre was based on The Little White Horse. Her Green Dolphin Country (1944) was made into a film (under its American title, Green Dolphin Street) which won the Academy Award for Special Effects in 1948. Miss Heliotrope is partial to the color purple, heliotropes are a flower that often sport purple blossoms. Set in 19th century England, it is a magical story of the newly orphaned Maria who has to leave her London home to stay with her guardian Sir Benjamin Merryweather, at Moonacre Manor. Before they arrive Maria and her devoted governess Miss Heliotrope expect the place to be cold and uncomfortable but from the carriage window Maria is delighted to see an enchanted, silvery landscape, and the brief vision of a white horse running past. The third strike is the language. It's as contrived as an imitation of Jane Austen or the Brontes; it has the tone and diction of someone who is desperately trying to tell a fairy tale. Also, instead of saying that a character "exclaims" something, she says "ejaculated." I know, I should be more mature, but it was distracting. Everybody going around ejaculating all the time... it's just jarring. OH, and Maria [Sue] keeps going through all the book's events "with a beating heart." ...well, she's alive isn't she? Admittedly, the third strike is really against the editor who should've caught the vanity-pressness of the language.

Maria as well as Elizabeth was an only child, and so relates well to the grown ups around her, there is very little us and them mentality. in the West Country. She always felt that the area was made for fairytales. As an admirer and avid reader of Jane Austen, many readers compare her Victorian Gothic descriptions of Moonacre Manor to Northanger Abbey.Serena the creature Maria rescues from the trap is the archetypal symbol of the Moon and Moon magic. A creature associated with witch craft and the supernatural. “But a hare, now, that is a different thing altogether. A hare is not a pet but a person. Hares are clever and brave and loving, and they have fairy blood in them. It’s a grand thing to have a hare for a friend.” (Goudge 1946 p85). Maria Merryweather was born and raised in London, but when was thirteen she was orphaned and sent to live with her last living relative – Sir Benjamin of Moonacre Manor – in the heart of the country. She travelled with her governess, Miss Heliotrope, and her beloved spaniel, Wiggins. Night was falling when arrived, and they were all enchanted by the sight of a moonlit castle set in a beautiful and expansive grounds. Finally, Old Parson, the vicar of Silverydew, a formidable person of great intellectual and spiritual power, the Mentor of the story. Who, never the less is given a very human twist at the end of the tale. After the death of her mother, and at the wishes of Goudge's family who wished her to live closer to them, she found a companion who moved with her to Rose Cottage in Reading. She lived out her life there, and had many dogs in her life. Goudge loved dogs, and much preferred their company to that of humans. She continued to write until shortly before her death, when ill health, successive falls, and cataracts hindered her ability to write. She was much loved.

Seeing him in daylight without his hat, Maria immediately loved old Digweed. He had wide innocent blue eyes like a baby’s, a high wrinkled forehead and a completely bald head.”(Goudge 1946 p45) I simply loved this one right from the start, mostly because there is something very magical about the atmosphere Goudge creates—she makes you want to almost step into the book and live in Moonacre manor which is a warm, welcoming place, with lovely surroundings—so are the other houses described, like the old parsonage and Loveday’s house. Her descriptions too are beautiful. As usual I never remember to mark them when I read them but this for instance: Reynolds, Simon (5 February 2009). "The Secret of Moonacre". Digital Spy . Retrieved 15 September 2019. The Little White Horse is a low fantasy children's novel by Elizabeth Goudge, first published by the University of London Press in 1946 with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges, and Anne Yvonne Gilbert in 1992. Coward–McCann published a US edition next year. [1] Set in 1842, it features a recently orphaned teenage girl who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. The estate, village, and vicinity are shrouded in mystery and magic; the "little white horse" is a unicorn. And there’s a larger, and I think fairly significant change to the fairy tale structure in the end. Fairy tales frequently deal with issues of pain and loss, and in this, The Little White Horse is no exception, with nearly every character (except, again, Marmaduke Scarlet, who is just an outlier everywhere here) having suffered loss and pain. But after the book starts, Maria does not have something taken from her. Rather, she chooses to give something up—and persuades Sir Benjamin to give up something as well. Well, to be fair, “persuades” is not quite the right word here: she demands, and Sir Benjamin agrees.Everything in this book happens so much in Maria's favor that there isn't really any plot tension. The one time in the entire book that something goes wrong for her, it's completely clear that she will try again and get it on her second try. Also, the "secrets" in the book are made so painfully obvious that it's nearly impossible to be surprised with Maria when X is actually revealed to be Y! Maria finds that her imaginary friend from London is a real boy living in the nearby village of Silverdew. For that matter, very few people stay within their social class, a rather surprising situation for a novel set on an early 19 th century estate—the time of Jane Austen. The French marquis loses his wealth and eventually becomes a poor country parson; the poachers become respectable fishermen and traders; Miss Heliotrope leaves her father’s home to become a governess; and Maria, in a rather dizzying turn of events, goes from wealth to poverty to wealth again. Only Sir Benjamin, the lord of the estate, and his main servant Marmaduke Scarlet, retain their original positions. The story is about a young girl who finds herself an orphan and moves from high-society London to her only surviving relative's castle in the countryside. Her cousin's town is a magical fairyland where everything is wonderful except that there are horrible people living in the woods and increasingly wreaking havoc (stealing food and animals at night, pretty much). Everyone in the town accepts Maria instantly as being the Chosen One who will mend ways with the bad people. She has to uncover the town's secrets - and those of its inhabitants - while all the time remembering not to be too curious in her pursuit of this information. She is routinely rewarded for not asking questions or going exploring on her own by being handed the piece of information she was waiting for in the next scene. Elizabeth Goudge needed at least a temporary escape from the horrors of World War II when she sat down to write The Little White Horse. Set in a land and time that seems remote from war, where food rationing has never been heard of (the lavish descriptions of rich, sweet foods are among the most memorable parts of the book), the book certainly succeeded as an escape: an idealistic fantasy—with just a touch of realism—that assured readers that with faith, everything could work out. Really.

You will notice that I left Wiggins off the list of helpers. This is because, although he is very definitely in most of the book and does a lot of eating, I don’t think that most readers would call him helpful.) Loveday is a Merryweather cousin in the book. She and Robin are members of the De Noir family in the movie. If you are able to, it is worth purchasing the collectors edition of this book, which has the wonderful illustrations of C. Walter Hodges including the colour plates and the maps. It makes for a doubly beautiful experience to read. sometimes in her dreams at night she stood beneath the branches of a mysterious wood, and looked down a moonlit glade, her eyes straining after something that she could not see. And when she woke up, there would be tears on her cheeks because her longing had been unsatisfied.

About Elizabeth Goudge

Have it your own way," he said. "But if your 'lots to drink' is tea, I don't want it. Of all the wishy-washy, insipid beverages -"

The Little White Horse is a classic of children's literature, written in the 1940s by Elizabeth Goudge. First published in 1946. The events of the novel begin in 1842.

The Secret of Moonacre". Toronto International Film Festival 2008. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008 . Retrieved 20 September 2019.