Status
Available
Local notes
PB Gou
Collection
Genres
Publication
Puffin Books (2001), 240 pages
Description
In 1842, thirteen-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather arrives at her ancestral home in an enchanted village in England's West Country, where she discovers it is her destiny to right the wrongs of her ancestors and end an ancient feud.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1946
Physical description
240 p.; 5.13 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member beserene
A particular kind of classic children's literature in which nothing too terrible happens, much is resolved, and you know from the first page that everyone is a very nice sort of person and all will end happily for them. And in between there are sometimes mysterious creatures and unexplained things
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and that's perfectly fine. Many adults would hate this book, but anyone who read it in childhood probably still loves it. It's that kind of book. I suspect it would irritate the sh*t out of Seanan McGuire, of Wayward Children fame, and anyone who longs for snark above earnestness but to me it's a cozy blanket of a book and a comfort in dark times. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheoClarke
At the time of publication in 1946 this would have been a children's fairy story. Now it is fantasy or historical magical realism. By setting the tale a century into the past Goudge was able to imbue it with a mixture of reality and whimsy that lent it a credibility that would be diminished in a
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contemporary setting. Some sixty years on, this consideration has been efluxed but the charming story of an orphan girl taken to stay with relatives in a magical landscape is timeless. Show Less
LibraryThing member soliloquies
Absolutely enchanting! An old fashioned style book where you can really escape into Maria's world. Beautiful prose which easily conveys a sense of innocence, that you rarely find in more modern books.
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Hits all the cliches about the orphan girl, the mansion, the mystery... but in fresh, lovely, and wise way. JK Rowling admits to having enjoyed this when she was a girl.
LibraryThing member cloudshipsinger
If someone can write a book like this, I think that's enough for them to be satisfied with their life.
LibraryThing member GeraniumCat
This is my all-time favourite children's book. My copy, much read, dates back to when I was twelve, and has illustrations which are very-badly coloured in. When I picked it up recently to write a recommendation for a friend it was 3 chapters later before I could put it down.
Set in Devon in the 19th
Goudge, as always in her books, details the minutiae of everyday life which creates security and comfort, with vivid descriptions of place, texture, taste, character. Her animals are particularly good - they are strong and interactive characters without being unduly anthropomorphic. Some of Goudge's best characters are members of the Anglican clergy, and she writes about moral fortitude and integrity with a delicacy of understanding and perception which, in a cynical age, I find genuinely uplifting.
Its suitability for the iPod generation is questionable, but it's worth a try!
Set in Devon in the 19th
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century, it tells the story of Maria, an orphan who moves from a dull London existence to Moonacre Manor, to live with her guardian. All is not entirely well in the valley - the Black Men guard the coast fiercely, and have been known to take lambs from the village of Silverydew. Maria and her new friend Robin set out to put things right.Goudge, as always in her books, details the minutiae of everyday life which creates security and comfort, with vivid descriptions of place, texture, taste, character. Her animals are particularly good - they are strong and interactive characters without being unduly anthropomorphic. Some of Goudge's best characters are members of the Anglican clergy, and she writes about moral fortitude and integrity with a delicacy of understanding and perception which, in a cynical age, I find genuinely uplifting.
Its suitability for the iPod generation is questionable, but it's worth a try!
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
A story set in Victorian England with an orphan who moves to her uncles house. Her uncle is a man who is deeply involved in the local myths and legends and accepts them without question. Many years ago there was a conflict between his ancestors and the ancestors of the Dark Men and this has
There are moments where this is quite a fun read but there are also moments that seemed to be a little too full of "look, here, allegory". Still not a bad read and I'm glad I picked it up.
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continued to this day, legend says that there will come a moon princess who will cure this rancor and allow all the people in the area to live together in harmony.There are moments where this is quite a fun read but there are also moments that seemed to be a little too full of "look, here, allegory". Still not a bad read and I'm glad I picked it up.
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LibraryThing member Laurenbdavis
An enchanting book by the author of "Green Dolphin Street." Magical and full of lovely archetypes, it's an unashamedly uplifting and downright pretty read. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
LibraryThing member Rahzel
Cute little book. I like it.
LibraryThing member TRWhittier
An incredibly magical, beautifully written story, wrought with amazing imagery. It's easy to see how J.K Rowling (who named The Little White Horse as one of her most beloved childhood novels) was inspired by the magical world of Moonacre Manor. If not for the intense religious tone of the story,
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and the anti-feminist message that young girls should never be curious, this would have been one of my very favorite works :/ Show Less
LibraryThing member mahallett
a jolly good read, all neatly tied up in the end. the bad black men with big black c*ck-a-doodling c*cks on their shoulders were quite startling.
LibraryThing member Kirtaniya
Just a very charming, old-fashioned story. A nice book to read to escape from the awfulness of modern life. Marmaduke Scarlett and Miss Heliotrope are my favourite characters and there is a wholesome sense of uprightness and faithfulness to duty throughout the book, while at the same time it is
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magical. Show Less
LibraryThing member jenzbookshelf
Orphan Maria Merryweather leaves her home in London after her father's death. She, her governess, and her dog travel to live with Maria's uncle. As part of her new life she is introduced to her family crest, the lion and the unicorn. She soon discovers a family mystery. The more she learns about
The Little White Horse is an amazing classic with lots of symbolism and deep themes including forgiveness, repentance, the Atonement, inter-generational relationships, heritage, identity, fear, courage, purity, love, vanity, pride, gratitude, and humility.
You don't want to miss out on such a beautiful, meaningful book. It's one of those "forgotten classics" which need to be remembered.
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her family's past, the greater her desire becomes to right the wrongs her family committed. The answer to the family mystery lies in the family motto "The brave soul and the pure spirit shall with a merry and loving heart inherit the kingdom together."The Little White Horse is an amazing classic with lots of symbolism and deep themes including forgiveness, repentance, the Atonement, inter-generational relationships, heritage, identity, fear, courage, purity, love, vanity, pride, gratitude, and humility.
You don't want to miss out on such a beautiful, meaningful book. It's one of those "forgotten classics" which need to be remembered.
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LibraryThing member LarissaBookGirl
Maria Merrywealther had, for all her young life, always lived in London. She was a London lady born and bread and she loved her London home that overlooked London square. It was here that she had her only friend, a boy with a feather in his hat named Robin, but according to Miss Heliotrope he only
Upon the death of her long absent father Maria became an orphan, and so her governess Mrs Heliotrope, Wiggins and herself were to leave London and move to the unrefined and ill-comforted country to a place called Moonacre to live with her last remaining relative, her cousin Sir Benjamin.
But what Maria finds at Moonacre is not at all what she expected, the country is a beautiful and enchanting place to live and its people are so nice that Maria finds that she instantly loves them all. But there is a darkness hanging over Moonacre and nothing is what it seems, especially not a little white horse and a large dark dog.
The Little White Horse is a symbol for purity and it is exactly Maria's pure heart and bravery that drives this classic story of morality, friendship and love. The wrongs of the past must be healed before those in the present are truly to be happy, and only through the actions of one girl can peace be found at last. Although set in the past it is a sweet and timeless story that has been enjoyed for generations, and will continue to bring joy for generations to come.
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imaginary.Upon the death of her long absent father Maria became an orphan, and so her governess Mrs Heliotrope, Wiggins and herself were to leave London and move to the unrefined and ill-comforted country to a place called Moonacre to live with her last remaining relative, her cousin Sir Benjamin.
But what Maria finds at Moonacre is not at all what she expected, the country is a beautiful and enchanting place to live and its people are so nice that Maria finds that she instantly loves them all. But there is a darkness hanging over Moonacre and nothing is what it seems, especially not a little white horse and a large dark dog.
The Little White Horse is a symbol for purity and it is exactly Maria's pure heart and bravery that drives this classic story of morality, friendship and love. The wrongs of the past must be healed before those in the present are truly to be happy, and only through the actions of one girl can peace be found at last. Although set in the past it is a sweet and timeless story that has been enjoyed for generations, and will continue to bring joy for generations to come.
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LibraryThing member annavanhass
This book was thouroghly descriptive describing things from the very sleeve of someone's dress to the petal of a flower.
LibraryThing member elliemaejune
I read this one the first time because of its title, thinking it was a horse book, but no, it isn't.
It is engagingly written, the plot moves along quickly, the characters are very real. I can see every person in my mind's eye, I can visualize Moonacre Manor, and Loveday Minette's cottage, and the
And it has a perfect ending (which makes me cry).
My copy actually came from England, by way of E-Bay :-)
It is engagingly written, the plot moves along quickly, the characters are very real. I can see every person in my mind's eye, I can visualize Moonacre Manor, and Loveday Minette's cottage, and the
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church as clearly as if I had actually been there.And it has a perfect ending (which makes me cry).
My copy actually came from England, by way of E-Bay :-)
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LibraryThing member Pferdina
Great children's story about an orphan who is sent to live with her rich old uncle in the country. She turns out to be a princess and saves the land.
LibraryThing member Samscar
Technically skimmed the last 20 or something pages, but I don't think I really missed anything of great importance.
The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, may be a children's book, but the characterization and the plot border on ridiculous.
This is the story of Maria, a little girl who after
Here she discovers she's got a destiny to full fill to lift the curse that has hurt her family so much.
One of the things that bothered me was the way most adults behaved, and the way everyone did everything Maria ordered no questions asked, and how everyone always did the right thing, among other stuff. It just seemed unrealistic, not magical but silly.
The plot wasn't really impressive, was predictable; but the narrative was rich and careful with little details, though that just couldn't save this book for me.
The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, may be a children's book, but the characterization and the plot border on ridiculous.
This is the story of Maria, a little girl who after
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her father's death is shipped to her closer relative who lives secluded in the magical land of Moonacre.Here she discovers she's got a destiny to full fill to lift the curse that has hurt her family so much.
One of the things that bothered me was the way most adults behaved, and the way everyone did everything Maria ordered no questions asked, and how everyone always did the right thing, among other stuff. It just seemed unrealistic, not magical but silly.
The plot wasn't really impressive, was predictable; but the narrative was rich and careful with little details, though that just couldn't save this book for me.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Lovely as always. It does remind me, in some ways, of Aiken's Wolves series - the same sort of mildly fantastic adventures, by amazingly competent children. But it's less funny and more...sweet? And deep, and touching. All the little mysteries, leading up to the big one; all the correspondences,
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the Sun and Moon Merryweathers and Wrolf and the little white horse - lovely. The insistence on "ladylike behavior" for Maria gets a little annoying at times, but it was probably just about invisible when the book was written in 1946. The descriptions - of the house, of the land, of the animals and birds, and especially of the food - are gorgeous and very convincing. This is one of the books that make me need to eat something while I read it (though not nearly as much as they do!). And the root of the solution is so simple, and so hard - control of oneself and one's behavior. It is a gorgeous story - I've read it half a dozen times and will probably do it as many times again, or more. Show Less
LibraryThing member quirkylibrarian
A little overdone and fanciful
LibraryThing member niquetteb
Maria is a moon goddess descendent and the chosen one to gain back the sea, manor and forest with help from a friend, Robin.
LibraryThing member CarrieWuj
3.5 for old-fashioned charm. This book was quoted in another book I read (Where I End), so I connected the dots and tracked it down -- and wished I had encountered it in my childhood where I would have appreciated it much more. Along the lines of Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables and Dandelion
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Cottage where the girl heroines work within the confines of their time and place to bravely change and challenge all while having a sunny disposition and a positive impact on those around them. This is a British tale, published in 1946 but set in a more antiquated, fairy tale time. Maria Merrydew is newly orphaned and travels from London with her beloved governess Miss Heliotrope to a distant relative (Sir Benjamin) in a distant land (Silverydew). There things are magical and enchanting and rapturous and delightful with every virtue, good thing to eat, fun thing to do, and a heavy dose of good vs. evil. The family estate of Moonacre is well-managed, if somewhat shabby and a benevolent force to the town, but the nearby Pine wood and Merry Bay are besieged by Them - the villain descendants of Black William who poach and trap the innocent animals and control the fishing in the Bay and steal from the townspeople. It is an age-old feud fueled by misunderstanding and mistrust. Maria in her plucky imperious way is destined to put all to rights and restore harmony throughout the land. The family motto is "The brave soul and the pure spirit shall with a merry and a loving heart inherit the kingdom together." She is the next generation of Moon Maiden and has some magical help, as well as the support of various creatures and true love of Robin, the simple shepherd boy. There are some mini-mysteries -- the little white horse, the missing pearls, the decades old murder of Black William, but nothing is too treacherous or challenging for Maria. Needless to say, a happy ending is insured in the tradition of Shakespeare's comedies. Weddings all around. Quite saccharine, but I couldn't help but like it for the time it was written and for the little girl I was. Show Less
LibraryThing member kerryelizabeth
Book two of my nostalgic journey through my favourite childhood books is now complete, and with no hesitation at all I add it to my favourites as an adult, too. This is one of those tales that will stay with you for life, and I know as a young'n this was my favourite book of all time along with one
The novel revolves around little Maria Merryweather, who relocates to the colourful and jovial Moonacre Valley to live within Moonacre Manor. Despite growing up with London and its luxuries, Maria finds herself more at home than she ever was in London, and soon grows to love everyone and everything within the Valley. And yet she is thrust into the midst of an ancient feud, and takes it upon herself to restore peace to the valley, and Maria usually gets her own way!
Elizabeth Goudge is the absolute queen of adjectives. Her descriptions are rich and delicious and are described so vividly that everything just jumps off of the page. Absolutely everything is described to the fullest of its potential; the clothes, the people, the animals, the nature, and even the moon itself. Even as a character is telling a fairy tale within the book, the inception-like story within the story tells itself so wonderfully and with such elegance and vigour that it just leaps off of the page and feels like it's being planted in your mind forever. It is in this way that most of the characters are developed. We get to see their facial expressions and body language, and truly feel their emotions and understand their innermost thoughts. It's just oozing with richness and elegance.
The story itself is delightful. It's full of heroes, noble steeds, baddies, magic, ancient feuds, good, bad, and everything inbetween. It's a lovely little fairy tale, and despite the magic within it there is a hint of reality and almost a moral to the story. Within everyone there are good traits and bad traits, and this is shown even in the "baddies" of the novel, who are shown to have good humour and honour. The good guys are proud and sometimes greedy. It's just refreshing to see the grey area within people instead of "everything about this person is good" and "everything about this person is bad". The use of colour to depict people and places is a nice little metaphor and a good way to predict what's to come.
Of course, as in every story, it does have its faults. It's quite a sexist book. For example, Maria's ancestor is being too proud and silly because she didn't forgive her husband for marrying her for the inheritance instead of love. And women are taught not to be curious or outspoken, and are told never to be aggravating or argue with their husbands, even if they are being utterly revolting in their speech. One particular example would be when a man throws all of his fiancées precious flowers and telling her she didn't deserve to marry him, and yet it was the woman who was blamed for being silly for not forgiving him and caring too much about the flowers. And Maria gets married at 14 or 15, which is wrong in the eyes of society today. All of this can be put down to the era in which it was set, though, which was the year 1842. It was acceptable for girls or 14 of 15 to be married in that era, I believe.
Overall, this is a wonderful tale that will stay with you for years, and despite its faults it is a delightful little novel. I give it my highest recommendation.
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other that will be reviewed at a later date. It's been a while since I last read it and the details were beginning to get a little fuzzy, and as such had forgotten over half of the book, but it's absolutely wonderful. And here's why.The novel revolves around little Maria Merryweather, who relocates to the colourful and jovial Moonacre Valley to live within Moonacre Manor. Despite growing up with London and its luxuries, Maria finds herself more at home than she ever was in London, and soon grows to love everyone and everything within the Valley. And yet she is thrust into the midst of an ancient feud, and takes it upon herself to restore peace to the valley, and Maria usually gets her own way!
Elizabeth Goudge is the absolute queen of adjectives. Her descriptions are rich and delicious and are described so vividly that everything just jumps off of the page. Absolutely everything is described to the fullest of its potential; the clothes, the people, the animals, the nature, and even the moon itself. Even as a character is telling a fairy tale within the book, the inception-like story within the story tells itself so wonderfully and with such elegance and vigour that it just leaps off of the page and feels like it's being planted in your mind forever. It is in this way that most of the characters are developed. We get to see their facial expressions and body language, and truly feel their emotions and understand their innermost thoughts. It's just oozing with richness and elegance.
The story itself is delightful. It's full of heroes, noble steeds, baddies, magic, ancient feuds, good, bad, and everything inbetween. It's a lovely little fairy tale, and despite the magic within it there is a hint of reality and almost a moral to the story. Within everyone there are good traits and bad traits, and this is shown even in the "baddies" of the novel, who are shown to have good humour and honour. The good guys are proud and sometimes greedy. It's just refreshing to see the grey area within people instead of "everything about this person is good" and "everything about this person is bad". The use of colour to depict people and places is a nice little metaphor and a good way to predict what's to come.
Of course, as in every story, it does have its faults. It's quite a sexist book. For example, Maria's ancestor is being too proud and silly because she didn't forgive her husband for marrying her for the inheritance instead of love. And women are taught not to be curious or outspoken, and are told never to be aggravating or argue with their husbands, even if they are being utterly revolting in their speech. One particular example would be when a man throws all of his fiancées precious flowers and telling her she didn't deserve to marry him, and yet it was the woman who was blamed for being silly for not forgiving him and caring too much about the flowers. And Maria gets married at 14 or 15, which is wrong in the eyes of society today. All of this can be put down to the era in which it was set, though, which was the year 1842. It was acceptable for girls or 14 of 15 to be married in that era, I believe.
Overall, this is a wonderful tale that will stay with you for years, and despite its faults it is a delightful little novel. I give it my highest recommendation.
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LibraryThing member glitterina
I bought this because J.K. Rowling said it was her childhood favorite... it IS good, but rather prim and preachy. (If some preacher scolded me publicly for allowing my child out with a dirty face, I'd smack him good. Mind your own damn business!)
LibraryThing member classyhomemaker
Oct. 2016-- I purchased a few copies of this for my kids as it's one of the books we're studying for our Victorian Sci-Fi & Fantasy class. Reading it through this second time, I didn't find it as magical as I did the first time around. I think part of that was due to the fact that I was taking
Oct. 2012--Excellent! This is my new favorite book! What a magical, wonderful story. I love how the author gives glory to God---both by having the children dedicate the land of the monastery back to God and also in the amazing description of the church service.
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notes and building a curriculum around it this time, rather than just reading for pleasure. Still, it's a lovely story and one of our family's favorites! Oct. 2012--Excellent! This is my new favorite book! What a magical, wonderful story. I love how the author gives glory to God---both by having the children dedicate the land of the monastery back to God and also in the amazing description of the church service.
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Pages
240