Funnily enough, I have never read one of Elizabeth Goudge's children's books. I always wanted to read The Little White Horse, but it was never around until I was an adult, and then I wasn't in the mood for it or was too ill any time I took a look at it. I don't think I'd ever even heard she'd written others!
I grew up with a chunk of first editions that belonged to my mother, mostly adult novels—The Valley of Song famously came from the Cambridge Public Library, where I treasured it all through elementary school until one year some miserable twerp who wasn't me stole it. It's my favorite of anything she wrote, although I have good memories of A City of Bells (1936) and The Dean's Watch (1960) in particular, and have re-read The Little White Horse (1946) and Linnets and Valerians (1964) recently enough to know I still like them. The Child from the Sea (1970) features technically an ancestor of mine in a position of extreme romantic angst that in real life was a lot more casually poly—I was able to read some of the relevant letters in grad school—which makes it impossible for me to regard the book as anything other than crackfic, but its author loved it.
It doesn't sound like this would be the one to start with, anyway! But I'm glad it turned up so you could see what it was like, because that kind of thing is important, obv.
Thank you! I was glad to have the chance, too. Would definitely not recommend starting with it. But if you ever see a copy of The Valley of Song in a charity shop, pounce.
no subject
I grew up with a chunk of first editions that belonged to my mother, mostly adult novels—The Valley of Song famously came from the Cambridge Public Library, where I treasured it all through elementary school until one year some miserable twerp who wasn't me stole it. It's my favorite of anything she wrote, although I have good memories of A City of Bells (1936) and The Dean's Watch (1960) in particular, and have re-read The Little White Horse (1946) and Linnets and Valerians (1964) recently enough to know I still like them. The Child from the Sea (1970) features technically an ancestor of mine in a position of extreme romantic angst that in real life was a lot more casually poly—I was able to read some of the relevant letters in grad school—which makes it impossible for me to regard the book as anything other than crackfic, but its author loved it.
It doesn't sound like this would be the one to start with, anyway! But I'm glad it turned up so you could see what it was like, because that kind of thing is important, obv.
Thank you! I was glad to have the chance, too. Would definitely not recommend starting with it. But if you ever see a copy of The Valley of Song in a charity shop, pounce.