Publication
Coronet, , c1944.
Collection
Status
Available
Description
When Marianne LePatourel meets William Ozanne in the 1830s on an island in the English Channel, she sets her heart on him. However, her sister Marguerite falls in love with him too. And so begins this sweeping novel that takes the characters on dramatic adventures from childhood through old age, on land and at sea, and from the Channel Islands to China to the New Zealand frontier. When William's naval career is cut short, he settles in New Zealand and writes to Mr. LePatourel to ask for Marguerite's hand in marriage-but in his nervousness he pens the wrong name. When Marianne arrives aboard the ship The Green Dolphin, William makes the gallant decision not to reveal his mistake. His mistake sets in motion a marriage hat is difficult,but teaches them both that steadfast love which is chosen is stronger than the passion of love at first sight.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member delphica
(Book #4 in the 2004 book challenge)
I'm not a real big romance novel fan, but every once in a while I enjoy some Elizabeth Goudge or Elswyth Thane, stuff from the 1930s and 40s. This one had this amazing plot set-up -- I don't want to spoil it (it happens early on, though) but I shall say
Grade: B+
Recommended: Yes, if you happen to be a fan of romance writing from this time period, otherwise, no.
I'm not a real big romance novel fan, but every once in a while I enjoy some Elizabeth Goudge or Elswyth Thane, stuff from the 1930s and 40s. This one had this amazing plot set-up -- I don't want to spoil it (it happens early on, though) but I shall say
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apparently all sorts of things can happen if you have an absent-minded moment and forget who you are in love with. Hoot. Other than that, it was an engrossing read. Set in the 19th century, things start off in Guernsey (and I have always wanted to go there) and move to New Zealand. There was a lot of love involved, and in addition to the romantic kind of love, there's also a lot of reflection about love of one's parents and children, love of one's homeland, love of God and church. A little sugary and idealistic, but Goudge's prose is so above average that the overall effect is sincere and not too much to take. Also, there was a really exciting shipwreck.Grade: B+
Recommended: Yes, if you happen to be a fan of romance writing from this time period, otherwise, no.
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LibraryThing member charlie68
Surprisingly good. Wasnt sure about the book or the author not really having heard of either before. But a lot happens in this book, voyages and battles and trips to fantastical countries and all well written. A forgotten gem perhaps.
LibraryThing member anniemktx
I read this book so long ago, but never forgot it, and have always considered it my list of favorites. I often tell about this story when the subject of married love comes up, as it has a beautiful lesson. I'm surprised more people don't love it - I agree, a forgotten gem.
LibraryThing member Figgles
A family saga about two sisters, the man they love, and the way a slip of the pen shapes all their destinies. Set in the Channel Islands and pioneering New Zealsnd it sounds like a stock family saga, but it's lifted above the pack by Elizabeth Goudge's writing and her highly individual sense of the
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numinous and spiritual. I think this may be her longest book and it can be heavy going at times, however it's well worth persevering with. Show Less
LibraryThing member Pauntley
I remember the cover picture and strange title 'Green Dolphin Street' from my early childhood. There was always a copy somewhere in the various houses where we lived. It was a book my mother returned to for distraction in times of bleak despair. Seventy years after that first memory I read it for
An epigraph from the Christian mystic, Evelyn Underhill, foreshadows the trinitarian structure of the novel, embodied in Marianne, her loveable dolt of a husband and Marguerite, who who is reborn through sacrifice. Here is the epigraph, a little abbreviated (forgive Underhill's insistent masculine pronoun): 'Three deep cravings of the self, three great expressions of man's restlessness, which only mystic truth can fully satisfy. The first is the craving which makes him a pilgrim and a wanderer. It is the longing to go out...in search of a "better country".... The next is the craving of heart for heart, which makes him a lover. The third is the craving for inward purity and perfection, which makes him an ascetic....'
I called Green Dolphin Street 'escapist' a moment ago. There is another enjoyable and illuminating variety of escapism in the book. Green Dolphin Street was published in 1944. Elizabeth Goudge is a voice from a vanished past. She was the daughter of an Oxford Professor of Theology who spent his wages on good works and made insufficient provision for his wife and daughter when he died, leaving them in relative poverty. Goudge never married. She looked after her ailing mother and wrote for money to support them both. After her mother died, Goudge lived with a companion and continued her rigorous and productive work as a writer to the end of her long life. Reading Green Dolphin Street in the second decade of the 21st century is a form of armchair time-travel as one returns to the the attitudes, beliefs and prejudices of an intelligent, educated Christian woman in the first half of the 20th century. One doesn't have to share those attitudes, beliefs, prejudices or her Christianity to enjoy the company of Elizabeth Goudge for a couple of leisurely days while one reads Green Dolphin Street.
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the first time, with huge enjoyment, under its alternative title "Green Dolphin Country". It is escapist literature and it glories in the genre. The narrative bounds along with constant recourse to the help of coincidences that delight rather than outrage. Goudge writes with gorgeously lush ornamentation. Landscapes and characters throb with emotion. It is a long book - close to 600 pages in my battered paperback edition (5th impression, 1968); I would not wish it shorter. The central character, Marianne, provides the hard spine of narrative interest throughout. She is the driving intelligence of the novel and her husband William and sister Marguerite, suffer, as Marianne herself does, from her dominance and escalating ambitions. She does come home at last, to achieve a resolution of the conflicting desires that have driven her life.An epigraph from the Christian mystic, Evelyn Underhill, foreshadows the trinitarian structure of the novel, embodied in Marianne, her loveable dolt of a husband and Marguerite, who who is reborn through sacrifice. Here is the epigraph, a little abbreviated (forgive Underhill's insistent masculine pronoun): 'Three deep cravings of the self, three great expressions of man's restlessness, which only mystic truth can fully satisfy. The first is the craving which makes him a pilgrim and a wanderer. It is the longing to go out...in search of a "better country".... The next is the craving of heart for heart, which makes him a lover. The third is the craving for inward purity and perfection, which makes him an ascetic....'
I called Green Dolphin Street 'escapist' a moment ago. There is another enjoyable and illuminating variety of escapism in the book. Green Dolphin Street was published in 1944. Elizabeth Goudge is a voice from a vanished past. She was the daughter of an Oxford Professor of Theology who spent his wages on good works and made insufficient provision for his wife and daughter when he died, leaving them in relative poverty. Goudge never married. She looked after her ailing mother and wrote for money to support them both. After her mother died, Goudge lived with a companion and continued her rigorous and productive work as a writer to the end of her long life. Reading Green Dolphin Street in the second decade of the 21st century is a form of armchair time-travel as one returns to the the attitudes, beliefs and prejudices of an intelligent, educated Christian woman in the first half of the 20th century. One doesn't have to share those attitudes, beliefs, prejudices or her Christianity to enjoy the company of Elizabeth Goudge for a couple of leisurely days while one reads Green Dolphin Street.
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LibraryThing member emilyesears
This is one of those old books that could never be published now due to its fanciful language and overly-described settings. I enjoyed it.
LibraryThing member MinaIsham
-- Book I borrowed from library has plain cover but contents are colorful. Marguerite & Marianne are sisters who both love William. There's a parrot, a sea captain, & a lumberjack in first quarter of book. People are beginning to settle in New Zealand with cannibals & ex-convicts. Already I know
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GREEN DOLPHIN STREET is a classic story of adventure & romance. Goudge is an excellent writer. -- Show Less
LibraryThing member janerawoof
Although it was a bit old fashioned in tone and prose sometimes bordering on the purple, I enjoyed this novel of the discovery of the true nature of love and of adventure in pioneer New Zealand, from isle of Guernsey and final return. The book spans more than a generation of lives of the same three
After misadventure as a British naval officer, William Ozanne joins the crew of a merchant ship, the Green Dolphin, and settles in New Zealand where he makes a success at the lumber trade. Feeling he can provide for a wife, he sends home for a bride and who should arrive but his love's sister due to his mistake in the wrong name. The novel shows the growth of each character--the strong though bossy Marianne, the wrong bride; Marguerite, her sister who finds peace in her life; and the feckless William, who sets the whole story in motion.
The author did a marvelous job of characterization of everyone, from the three main figures to the "cameos". She admits in her note she may have made mistakes in her version of New Zealand, but the Maori uprisings, fire, and earthquake were very well done. Descriptions of the landscapes were a bit effusive but this era brought the period to life for me.
"Although this book is fiction ... it is based on fact. That a man who emigrated to the New World should after the lapse of years write home for a bride and get the wrong one because h e had confused her name with that of her sister, may seem to the reader highly improbable; yet it happened. And in real life too the man held his tongue about his mistake and made a good job of his marriage." The author writes this in her note.
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main characters in the 19th century.After misadventure as a British naval officer, William Ozanne joins the crew of a merchant ship, the Green Dolphin, and settles in New Zealand where he makes a success at the lumber trade. Feeling he can provide for a wife, he sends home for a bride and who should arrive but his love's sister due to his mistake in the wrong name. The novel shows the growth of each character--the strong though bossy Marianne, the wrong bride; Marguerite, her sister who finds peace in her life; and the feckless William, who sets the whole story in motion.
The author did a marvelous job of characterization of everyone, from the three main figures to the "cameos". She admits in her note she may have made mistakes in her version of New Zealand, but the Maori uprisings, fire, and earthquake were very well done. Descriptions of the landscapes were a bit effusive but this era brought the period to life for me.
"Although this book is fiction ... it is based on fact. That a man who emigrated to the New World should after the lapse of years write home for a bride and get the wrong one because h e had confused her name with that of her sister, may seem to the reader highly improbable; yet it happened. And in real life too the man held his tongue about his mistake and made a good job of his marriage." The author writes this in her note.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0340151056 / 9780340151051
Original publication date
1944