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The Eliots of Damerosehay #1
The Bird in the Tree
A Vibrant Novel About the Joys of Life ... and The Pangs of Love
Love had come to David for the first time, glorious, overwhelming, passionate. It was far greater and far more lovely than he had ever dreamed possible. And it was returned in full measure, with equal passion. But he could not take her without pain--pain for himself, for her, for his beloved family.
Lucilla has spent a lifetime making the Hampshire estate of Damerosehay a tranquil haven for the Eliot family. When her favourite grandson, David, falls in love with an unsuitable woman Lucilla feels is unsuitable, she sees her most cherished ambitions put at risk. But can she persuade David and Nadine to put duty before love?
At last, in the magical peace of the countryside, watched over by a benevolent old house that had nourished so much love, they knew the path their hearts must take....
Love had come to David for the first time, glorious, overwhelming, passionate. It was far greater and far more lovely than he had ever dreamed possible. And it was returned in full measure, with equal passion. But he could not take her without pain--pain for himself, for her, for his beloved family.
Lucilla has spent a lifetime making the Hampshire estate of Damerosehay a tranquil haven for the Eliot family. When her favourite grandson, David, falls in love with an unsuitable woman Lucilla feels is unsuitable, she sees her most cherished ambitions put at risk. But can she persuade David and Nadine to put duty before love?
At last, in the magical peace of the countryside, watched over by a benevolent old house that had nourished so much love, they knew the path their hearts must take....
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1940
149 people are currently reading
2687 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Goudge
77 books869 followersElizabeth Goudge was an English author of novels, short stories and children's books.
Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge was born on 24 April 1900 in Wells, Somerset, in Tower House close by the cathedral in an area known as The Liberty, Her father, the Reverend Henry Leighton Goudge, taught in the cathedral school. Her mother was Miss Ida Collenette from the Channel Isles. Elizabeth was an only child. The family moved to Ely for a Canonry as Principal of the theological college. Later, when her father was made Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, they moved to Christ Church, Oxford.
She went to boarding school during WWI and later to Arts College, presumably at Reading College. She made a small living as teacher, and continued to live with her parents. During this time, she wrote a few plays, and was encouraged to write novels by a publisher. As her writing career took off, she began to travel to other nations. Unfortunately, she suffered from depression for much of her life. She had great empathy for people and a talent for finding the comic side of things, displayed to great effect in her writing.
Goudge's first book, The Fairies' Baby and Other Stories (1919), was a failure and it was several years before she authored Island Magic (1934), which is based on Channel Island stories, many of which she had learned from her mother, who was from Guernsey. After the death of her father, Goudge and her mother went to Devon, and eventually wound up living there in a small cottage. There, she wrote prolifically and was happy.
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.
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.
A Diary of Prayer (1966) was one of Goudge's last works. She spent her last years in her cottage on Peppard Common, just outside Henley-on-Thames, where a blue plaque was unveiled in 2008.
Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge was born on 24 April 1900 in Wells, Somerset, in Tower House close by the cathedral in an area known as The Liberty, Her father, the Reverend Henry Leighton Goudge, taught in the cathedral school. Her mother was Miss Ida Collenette from the Channel Isles. Elizabeth was an only child. The family moved to Ely for a Canonry as Principal of the theological college. Later, when her father was made Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, they moved to Christ Church, Oxford.
She went to boarding school during WWI and later to Arts College, presumably at Reading College. She made a small living as teacher, and continued to live with her parents. During this time, she wrote a few plays, and was encouraged to write novels by a publisher. As her writing career took off, she began to travel to other nations. Unfortunately, she suffered from depression for much of her life. She had great empathy for people and a talent for finding the comic side of things, displayed to great effect in her writing.
Goudge's first book, The Fairies' Baby and Other Stories (1919), was a failure and it was several years before she authored Island Magic (1934), which is based on Channel Island stories, many of which she had learned from her mother, who was from Guernsey. After the death of her father, Goudge and her mother went to Devon, and eventually wound up living there in a small cottage. There, she wrote prolifically and was happy.
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.
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.
A Diary of Prayer (1966) was one of Goudge's last works. She spent her last years in her cottage on Peppard Common, just outside Henley-on-Thames, where a blue plaque was unveiled in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 255 reviews
December 18, 2013
Pagan that I am, I still have a weakness for the British Christian apologists I read as an adolescent. C.S. Lewis? Check. Such a beautiful mind, such clarity!
Elizabeth Goudge? Linnets and Valerians? Sigh . . . the best. Re-reading her Damerosehay trilogy, I found myself falling for her again. Her children, like E. Nesbit's, are so individual, so real, so un-sugar coated. Her descriptions of landscape, of weather and wildlife are so perfectly realized you can practically smell the rain coming. But it is her values - children, family, community, self-sacrifice - that I most admire. She is a gem of a writer.
Elizabeth Goudge? Linnets and Valerians? Sigh . . . the best. Re-reading her Damerosehay trilogy, I found myself falling for her again. Her children, like E. Nesbit's, are so individual, so real, so un-sugar coated. Her descriptions of landscape, of weather and wildlife are so perfectly realized you can practically smell the rain coming. But it is her values - children, family, community, self-sacrifice - that I most admire. She is a gem of a writer.
February 9, 2019
”She had seen what life could be, and man could do when the devil was in him. She had not much hope of any wholesale change; only of the creation of isolated homes of beauty from which, please God, the loveliness should spread.
They should come to it weary and sickened and go away made new. They should find peace there, and beauty, and the cleansing of their sins.”
This, the first book in the Eliot Chronicles trilogy, is an exemplar of what I’ve come to think of as ‘the restorative country house’ theme. The house, Damerosehay, is an old house set in the marshlands of the Hampshire coastline - close enough to see the sea. It has a large walled garden, of course, and ancient oaks trees, and a ‘wild garden’ just for the children. Lucilla Eliot presides over Damerosehay, and in her early widowhood (age 58) she found and furnished the house with the express intention of making it a haven for her children and grandchildren. The year was 1918, and her youngest and most adored son had just been killed in World War I. His only son, David, was suddenly orphaned - and her impulse to create a beautiful, nurturing house was born out of the need to foster David, but also the desire to remake a world shattered by the war.
When this book begins, the year is 1938 and war again is looming. David, now a successful actor, has fallen in love with Nadine - the ex-wife of his uncle George. Ben, Tommy and Caroline, the children of George and Nadine, are living with Lucilla at Damerosehay - but their Eden is suddenly threatened by this great breach in the family. Lucilla must find a way to convince Nadine and David that their love threatens the very fabric of the family and the future of Damerosehay- whose heir is meant to be David.
The plot-line is very simple and laid before the reader at the very beginning. One is never in much doubt about the outcome, but the charm and the pleasure of the book is in the way that Goudge describes the house, including its unusual history, and the individual battles that various of the characters must wage between their higher and lower natures. Family and community are valued above individual needs and desires, and in that sense, one sees how the book must have chimed with its own time: it was published in 1940, in very dark days for England.
Goudge’s work has an especially distinctive signature. Her Christian beliefs are very much reflected in the ‘philosophy’ contained in her books, but she also has a fanciful, whimsical side that appeals to me very much. Although I would never read a book overtly Christian and didactic, somehow - with Goudge’s light and wise touch - I’m always very moved by the way she depicts the struggle of life. She’s very much aware of the dark side, but so attuned to that which is ‘light’: beauty, goodness, nature, love. For instance: ”One’s real self gets very sharpened when one is unhappy. It gets able to pierce through and make peepholes in the stuff of everyday life. It’s practically the only advantage of being unhappy.”
I was a child who always longed to be good, and perhaps I am more susceptible than most to the appeal of the higher nature. I only know that I have never yet been disappointed by a Goudge book, and I find that its gentle wisdom has its restorative powers over me as much as its own characters.
They should come to it weary and sickened and go away made new. They should find peace there, and beauty, and the cleansing of their sins.”
This, the first book in the Eliot Chronicles trilogy, is an exemplar of what I’ve come to think of as ‘the restorative country house’ theme. The house, Damerosehay, is an old house set in the marshlands of the Hampshire coastline - close enough to see the sea. It has a large walled garden, of course, and ancient oaks trees, and a ‘wild garden’ just for the children. Lucilla Eliot presides over Damerosehay, and in her early widowhood (age 58) she found and furnished the house with the express intention of making it a haven for her children and grandchildren. The year was 1918, and her youngest and most adored son had just been killed in World War I. His only son, David, was suddenly orphaned - and her impulse to create a beautiful, nurturing house was born out of the need to foster David, but also the desire to remake a world shattered by the war.
When this book begins, the year is 1938 and war again is looming. David, now a successful actor, has fallen in love with Nadine - the ex-wife of his uncle George. Ben, Tommy and Caroline, the children of George and Nadine, are living with Lucilla at Damerosehay - but their Eden is suddenly threatened by this great breach in the family. Lucilla must find a way to convince Nadine and David that their love threatens the very fabric of the family and the future of Damerosehay- whose heir is meant to be David.
The plot-line is very simple and laid before the reader at the very beginning. One is never in much doubt about the outcome, but the charm and the pleasure of the book is in the way that Goudge describes the house, including its unusual history, and the individual battles that various of the characters must wage between their higher and lower natures. Family and community are valued above individual needs and desires, and in that sense, one sees how the book must have chimed with its own time: it was published in 1940, in very dark days for England.
Goudge’s work has an especially distinctive signature. Her Christian beliefs are very much reflected in the ‘philosophy’ contained in her books, but she also has a fanciful, whimsical side that appeals to me very much. Although I would never read a book overtly Christian and didactic, somehow - with Goudge’s light and wise touch - I’m always very moved by the way she depicts the struggle of life. She’s very much aware of the dark side, but so attuned to that which is ‘light’: beauty, goodness, nature, love. For instance: ”One’s real self gets very sharpened when one is unhappy. It gets able to pierce through and make peepholes in the stuff of everyday life. It’s practically the only advantage of being unhappy.”
I was a child who always longed to be good, and perhaps I am more susceptible than most to the appeal of the higher nature. I only know that I have never yet been disappointed by a Goudge book, and I find that its gentle wisdom has its restorative powers over me as much as its own characters.
May 18, 2020
Elizabeth Goudge always astounds me with the beauty and deeply moving spirituality of her writing and this book is no exception. Quite often I found myself rereading portions simply so I could more fully enjoy the grace and depth of her thoughts. Definitely a book to be savored and revisited.
Remarkable and beautiful! Highest recommendation.
Remarkable and beautiful! Highest recommendation.
February 20, 2022
I was not familiar with Elizabeth Goudge or her books but kept seeing her name pop up on GR and Instagram. Her stories sounded interesting so I looked for her books in my library. They carried very few and only one of this series (the middle book - why? Who does the buying for these libraries?). So I hunted my usual used book haunts to find 'The Bird in the Tree'. I found a few copies and they were a bit spendy which indicated to me that it was a worthwhile book. Continued my search, found a good copy at a reasonable price, and Ha! the book was mine (picture a woman hugging the book to her chest and smiling).
Now for the reading of it. I wasn't sure what to expect (yes, I read the blurbs and the reviews) but there is always something more ... or different. This book was so MUCH more than I expected. When I cook and make a basic recipe it is usually good but when I make a recipe that takes the steps and time to layer and build flavors - it is so much more than the basic recipe. This is a story that builds and layers characters, scenery, nature, and human nature. The characters were developed - I know them. Some I like more than others. The description of the scenery makes me want to visit Damerosehay. And because I enjoy gardening and birdwatching and living near the sea; it would be a delight.
As the story unfolds, I can see that Goudge has a great understanding of human beings. I kept looking to see when this was published (1940) because it seemed so timely for today (2022). She understands men and women, children and families, acquaintances and staff. It is the story of the Eliots, but mostly of Lucilla - the grandmother who purchased Damerosehay as a PLACE for her children and grandchildren. And as we see the ingredients of the story being revealed we find harmony and tension and one major decision which will change the future of the family. Lucilla does her best to guide her relations to make a decision that will benefit the entire family.
I loved reading this and can see that a re-read is in order. This poem is at the beginning of the book and it has more meaning for me having read the story.
The Bird
I have grown tired of sorrow and human tears;
Life is a dream in the night, a fear among fears,
A naked runner lost in a storm of spears.
I have grown tired of rapture and love's desire;
Love is a flaming heart, and its flames aspire
Till they cloud the soul in the smoke of a windy fire.
I would wash the dust of the world in a soft green flood;
Here between sea and sea in the fairy wood,
I have found a delicate wave-green solitude.
Here, in the fairy wood, between sea and sea,
I have heard the song of a fairy bird in a tree,
And the peace that is not in the world has flown to me.
-Arthur Symons
I recommend this book.
Now for the reading of it. I wasn't sure what to expect (yes, I read the blurbs and the reviews) but there is always something more ... or different. This book was so MUCH more than I expected. When I cook and make a basic recipe it is usually good but when I make a recipe that takes the steps and time to layer and build flavors - it is so much more than the basic recipe. This is a story that builds and layers characters, scenery, nature, and human nature. The characters were developed - I know them. Some I like more than others. The description of the scenery makes me want to visit Damerosehay. And because I enjoy gardening and birdwatching and living near the sea; it would be a delight.
As the story unfolds, I can see that Goudge has a great understanding of human beings. I kept looking to see when this was published (1940) because it seemed so timely for today (2022). She understands men and women, children and families, acquaintances and staff. It is the story of the Eliots, but mostly of Lucilla - the grandmother who purchased Damerosehay as a PLACE for her children and grandchildren. And as we see the ingredients of the story being revealed we find harmony and tension and one major decision which will change the future of the family. Lucilla does her best to guide her relations to make a decision that will benefit the entire family.
I loved reading this and can see that a re-read is in order. This poem is at the beginning of the book and it has more meaning for me having read the story.
The Bird
I have grown tired of sorrow and human tears;
Life is a dream in the night, a fear among fears,
A naked runner lost in a storm of spears.
I have grown tired of rapture and love's desire;
Love is a flaming heart, and its flames aspire
Till they cloud the soul in the smoke of a windy fire.
I would wash the dust of the world in a soft green flood;
Here between sea and sea in the fairy wood,
I have found a delicate wave-green solitude.
Here, in the fairy wood, between sea and sea,
I have heard the song of a fairy bird in a tree,
And the peace that is not in the world has flown to me.
-Arthur Symons
I recommend this book.
April 15, 2015
I love this book, and the entire 'Eliot Heritage' trilogy!
Elizabeth Goudge writes so convincingly and yet non-offensively. As she has been a favorite author of mine since teen years (our local library stocked most of her books), I have turned to her again and again, and always took away something fresh and new to apply in my life.
David Eliot has fallen in love...with a (divorced) relative's wife. How will this affect the family, the children, and the home that his grandmother, Lucilla, has built up over the years?
Written in the 1940's, this novel takes us to a charming setting, a maritime village near the sea in England. Goudge's descriptive writing in both her setting and her characters are masterful and engaging:
"Pointing a moral to the grandchildren she would wave a hand towards her Sheraton chairs with the petit-point seats worked by her grandmother in a pattern of purple pansies and crimson gilliflowers. She would tell them how the exquisite curves of the wood had been created by the hands of a craftsman, each tool in its aptness and simplicity itself a thing of beauty in his hands as patiently, line by line, he fashioned the vision that was in his mind. And the same with the grandmother's needlework. She had spun the wool herself and dyed it to its lovely colours with the juices of plants picked upon her walks, she had seen with the eyes of her mind a vision of her garden, formalized and touched with perpetual stillness, and painted the picture with her needlework upon canvas. And now though their legs were scratched and their colours were faded, the chairs were as lovely as ever. Lovelier, Lucilla declared, because a work of art is like a human being, the more it is loved the more beautiful it grows, reflecting the gift of love like light back again to the giver."
This book has lessons to teach us, and although they are gentle, conventional lessons, they are also timeless and enduring. Is it too late for Lucilla to pass down her values to her adult grandson, the values of fidelity, self-sacrifice, duty to one's family, and preservation of traditional family life? And, from David's side, how can an aged grandmother possibly understand what David and Nadine are experiencing?
But Lucilla has her own story to tell, and she does it with tact and understanding, and although shocking, it is pertinent to David and Nadine's life choices.
Elizabeth Goudge has been criticized by some for her 'sentimental' writing, but in reading other's reviews, I am pleased to see that I am not the only reader who finds comfort, encouragement and cheer, in her novels. She writes sympathetically about the human personality and cleverly teaches us to laugh at ourselves and our human foibles while attempting to understand the complicated emotions and circumstances of life that sway us.
There is so much more to say here, but once again, I came away from this lovely novel (that others have done so much better at reviewing than my own attempt here!), refreshed and reminded to take joy in the little everyday things of life that, taken and added one by one, build up to a stable foundation to withstand the tests of time.
Elizabeth Goudge writes so convincingly and yet non-offensively. As she has been a favorite author of mine since teen years (our local library stocked most of her books), I have turned to her again and again, and always took away something fresh and new to apply in my life.
David Eliot has fallen in love...with a (divorced) relative's wife. How will this affect the family, the children, and the home that his grandmother, Lucilla, has built up over the years?
Written in the 1940's, this novel takes us to a charming setting, a maritime village near the sea in England. Goudge's descriptive writing in both her setting and her characters are masterful and engaging:
"Pointing a moral to the grandchildren she would wave a hand towards her Sheraton chairs with the petit-point seats worked by her grandmother in a pattern of purple pansies and crimson gilliflowers. She would tell them how the exquisite curves of the wood had been created by the hands of a craftsman, each tool in its aptness and simplicity itself a thing of beauty in his hands as patiently, line by line, he fashioned the vision that was in his mind. And the same with the grandmother's needlework. She had spun the wool herself and dyed it to its lovely colours with the juices of plants picked upon her walks, she had seen with the eyes of her mind a vision of her garden, formalized and touched with perpetual stillness, and painted the picture with her needlework upon canvas. And now though their legs were scratched and their colours were faded, the chairs were as lovely as ever. Lovelier, Lucilla declared, because a work of art is like a human being, the more it is loved the more beautiful it grows, reflecting the gift of love like light back again to the giver."
This book has lessons to teach us, and although they are gentle, conventional lessons, they are also timeless and enduring. Is it too late for Lucilla to pass down her values to her adult grandson, the values of fidelity, self-sacrifice, duty to one's family, and preservation of traditional family life? And, from David's side, how can an aged grandmother possibly understand what David and Nadine are experiencing?
But Lucilla has her own story to tell, and she does it with tact and understanding, and although shocking, it is pertinent to David and Nadine's life choices.
Elizabeth Goudge has been criticized by some for her 'sentimental' writing, but in reading other's reviews, I am pleased to see that I am not the only reader who finds comfort, encouragement and cheer, in her novels. She writes sympathetically about the human personality and cleverly teaches us to laugh at ourselves and our human foibles while attempting to understand the complicated emotions and circumstances of life that sway us.
There is so much more to say here, but once again, I came away from this lovely novel (that others have done so much better at reviewing than my own attempt here!), refreshed and reminded to take joy in the little everyday things of life that, taken and added one by one, build up to a stable foundation to withstand the tests of time.
September 1, 2024
My second or third time through this one, but it has been awhile and there were significant things I had completely forgotten. Also things I liked better this time through it. I still think it's slow and too much in everybody's heads, especially in the early chapters, but it does get where it's going eventually. One interesting point is the use of an old clock in the plot--reminded me of Goudge's The Dean's Watch.
February 15, 2025
I have enjoyed Sarah Clarkson's work since I was on the launch team for Book Girl years ago, but one way we do not vibe is that she sometimes recommends starting sequential book series out of order. Thus I read Pilgrim's Inn/The Herb of Grace and felt like I was being thrust into the middle of a story without reading the beginning. I kept trying Goudge until I found the magic, and now I am back around to the beginning of the Eliot family story. It is much better this way, and I know I'll appreciate the second book more having read the first.
The Bird in the Tree is about faithfulness, creativity, love, and compassion. I really enjoyed it, and the bit of a historical mystery was a delight. I love books about old houses and Damerosehay soothed me. I have such a vivid picture of it in my mind now, a place to visit at will, and I hope to meet it in other seasons besides autumn in the rest of the series.
The Bird in the Tree is about faithfulness, creativity, love, and compassion. I really enjoyed it, and the bit of a historical mystery was a delight. I love books about old houses and Damerosehay soothed me. I have such a vivid picture of it in my mind now, a place to visit at will, and I hope to meet it in other seasons besides autumn in the rest of the series.
March 4, 2025
I had originally rated this 3 stars back when I didn't know Goudge's writing and themes as well. I'm so glad I revisited this because I do think it's a powerful story and one that has duty v. desire at its heart. I've read Herb of Grace/Pilgrim's Inn more often than this story, so I loved returning to this first book in the series to learn again the story of the Hard and Damerosehay, about Lucilla and Ellen, and about the struggle that both David and Nadine undergo in this story that plays out more in Herb of Grace. I love the story of Damerosehay and Captain Martyn that inspires David to make a good but hard choice. I had completely forgotten about the events at the end of the novel that mirror the original story. This is an earlier Goudge novel and her craft has improved a lot by this novel from her earlier novels, though she always has a gift for character and setting.
Margaret and Hilary, Lucilla's two unmarried, plain children (grown now), are my favorite characters (along with highly sensitive young Ben). I would love a story of their old age together. They're both so good. I think goodness is a tremendously unsung virtue in our modern world and yet goodness always abounds in the world because the world is God's and God is good. We know goodness when we see it and we're moved by it. As I read just today in another story, goodness is beautiful. Goudge shows that so well in many ways, but my favorite way is in the humble goodness of her salt-of-the-earth characters.
Margaret and Hilary, Lucilla's two unmarried, plain children (grown now), are my favorite characters (along with highly sensitive young Ben). I would love a story of their old age together. They're both so good. I think goodness is a tremendously unsung virtue in our modern world and yet goodness always abounds in the world because the world is God's and God is good. We know goodness when we see it and we're moved by it. As I read just today in another story, goodness is beautiful. Goudge shows that so well in many ways, but my favorite way is in the humble goodness of her salt-of-the-earth characters.
December 15, 2015
I loved this book, in fact it is to date my favorite of Elizabeth Goudge stories. Lucilla is the wise matriarch of the family and her relationship to her children and grandchildren is well told. I came away with the sense of family as prime importance to the point of sacrificing some of one's own desires for the greater good of family and community. The home she made in Damerosehay is a sheltering and nurturing place for all who come to stay. I look forward to the other books in the Eliot series!
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April 12, 2022The more I read Elizabeth Goudge's books the more complex her character develops, she is wonderful in her insights in a human's heart, mind and character, her descriptions of the natural world coupled with profound spiritual insights, and yet she is fearless when it comes to portraying more difficult, sometimes disturbing aspects of the human nature, fearless when portraying a family presumably perfect, not without grief and pain, but now on the verge of being shaken to bits by the preposterous, senseless and selfish decisions of a nephew and his aunt> "Your cruelty to them, for the sake of your own selfish passions, is a thing I cannot understand.". Most of the book I struggled reading about the afore mentioned characters, and delighted in the very few episodes involving children and two darling adults (Hilary and Margaret). It was because of these moments and Elizabeth Goudge's genius at writing about nature and faith that I found it easier to read this through.
Some favourite quotes:
🧭More often than not a human creature seemed cast for the role that suited him least. There was a purpose here, perhaps. To swim with the stream was too easy; it was swimming against it that increased one's strength.
🌱...a work of art is like a human being, the more it is loved the more beautiful it grows, reflecting the gift of love like light back again to the giver.
🌳The value of little things was heightened by her enjoyment of them; the value of life itself was heightened because she had bought her knowledge of it with bitter sorrow and yet in her old age could wear it with such grace
🌷But it was the flower garden that Margaret loved best. It was to her as a canvas is to an artist, only to her mind more splendid. "They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair." Kipling's description of the artists in heaven applied equally well to gardeners upon earth, she thought. She had such a splendid space to splash about in, and the pictures she painted there were forever changing. No sooner had she finished planning pools of purple crocus and rivulets of daffodils than she was lying awake at night intoxicated by the thought of mauve canterbury bells and pink phlox in the herbaceous border, bright against the curtain of honeysuckle over the wall, with purple pansies to edge the border and tall white lilies to give it dignity and strength.
🌄He had found out early in life that people did not find him very interesting and his humility had decided that they were probably quite right. If they didn't bother about him neither would he bother about himself. To the best of his ability he would do the work he loved in the world he loved and think no more about it; if it turned out at last that the one had helped the other he would be glad, but it would be arrogant to feel any certainty about that in this present life, and weakening to worry over it. A wise countryman, not gifted with great and compelling gifts, should pass steadily and quietly on his way, not questioning too much or expecting too much, unhurried as the seasons that regulate his life, disciplined by their rhythm, facing ever eastwards to the wide horizons that are his special treasure
❤The love of a man and a woman, I saw, should never be allowed to be an end in itslef; it should be the helpmate of their work.
📚In times of storm and tempest, of indecision and desolations, a book already known and loved makes better reading than something new and untried. The meeting with remembered and well-loved passages is like the continual greeting of old friends; nothing is so warming and companionable.
🌞Just live one day at a time . However unhappy you are you can still act your part for one more day."
🔥 For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity."
🌺All bereavement, whether fate inflicts it on you or whether the relinquishment is your own, changes you. Don't people say that nature abhors a vacuum? Something lost in the present means something new flowing in from the future; often a new or stronger faith."
Some favourite quotes:
🧭More often than not a human creature seemed cast for the role that suited him least. There was a purpose here, perhaps. To swim with the stream was too easy; it was swimming against it that increased one's strength.
🌱...a work of art is like a human being, the more it is loved the more beautiful it grows, reflecting the gift of love like light back again to the giver.
🌳The value of little things was heightened by her enjoyment of them; the value of life itself was heightened because she had bought her knowledge of it with bitter sorrow and yet in her old age could wear it with such grace
🌷But it was the flower garden that Margaret loved best. It was to her as a canvas is to an artist, only to her mind more splendid. "They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair." Kipling's description of the artists in heaven applied equally well to gardeners upon earth, she thought. She had such a splendid space to splash about in, and the pictures she painted there were forever changing. No sooner had she finished planning pools of purple crocus and rivulets of daffodils than she was lying awake at night intoxicated by the thought of mauve canterbury bells and pink phlox in the herbaceous border, bright against the curtain of honeysuckle over the wall, with purple pansies to edge the border and tall white lilies to give it dignity and strength.
🌄He had found out early in life that people did not find him very interesting and his humility had decided that they were probably quite right. If they didn't bother about him neither would he bother about himself. To the best of his ability he would do the work he loved in the world he loved and think no more about it; if it turned out at last that the one had helped the other he would be glad, but it would be arrogant to feel any certainty about that in this present life, and weakening to worry over it. A wise countryman, not gifted with great and compelling gifts, should pass steadily and quietly on his way, not questioning too much or expecting too much, unhurried as the seasons that regulate his life, disciplined by their rhythm, facing ever eastwards to the wide horizons that are his special treasure
❤The love of a man and a woman, I saw, should never be allowed to be an end in itslef; it should be the helpmate of their work.
📚In times of storm and tempest, of indecision and desolations, a book already known and loved makes better reading than something new and untried. The meeting with remembered and well-loved passages is like the continual greeting of old friends; nothing is so warming and companionable.
🌞Just live one day at a time . However unhappy you are you can still act your part for one more day."
🔥 For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity."
🌺All bereavement, whether fate inflicts it on you or whether the relinquishment is your own, changes you. Don't people say that nature abhors a vacuum? Something lost in the present means something new flowing in from the future; often a new or stronger faith."
February 13, 2015
Three and a half stars. Not her finest outing, but I enjoyed it and I cared enough about the all of the Eliots that I'm adding the second book in the series, Pilgrim's Inn to my priority reading list.
This was my third Elizabeth Goudge this year. I loved The Dean's Watch and The Castle on the Hill. She runs true to form in this book, which is graced with lovely descriptions and wonderful characters. The pace is as languid as a late summer afternoon, but despite the slow pace I found the most of the book very absorbing. Until the last fifty pages or so, Goudge effortlessly and sympathetically shifts from one point of view to another so that the reader lives the varied thoughts and emotions of each member of this large extended family. The whole has a subtle richness to it, like an old, well-faded Turkish carpet.
Alas, she lost me in the home stretch! I loved it up through the meeting with Uncle Hilary (one of my favorite Eliots since lol he reminded me of myself). Then she inserted a plot line about a diary that reveals the back story about Damerosehay and its original inhabitants. I suppose Gouge thought things were getting dull; they were sort of somnolent, unless you like those delicate family dramas, but I was rather enjoying it and the insertion seemed intrusive.
Then the multiple POVs got a bit too tangled up, and everyone was agonizing and moralizing a bit too much and there was this unnecessary storm....
Oh well. In the end, unlike many other reviewers, I felt that the right choices had been made, and for pretty much the right reasons. One thing that I'll add . While some have objected to the overtly religious message (and it did get preachy at times), I found myself pondering how hard it is to do the right thing without a sense of God--and without family and community.
This was my third Elizabeth Goudge this year. I loved The Dean's Watch and The Castle on the Hill. She runs true to form in this book, which is graced with lovely descriptions and wonderful characters. The pace is as languid as a late summer afternoon, but despite the slow pace I found the most of the book very absorbing. Until the last fifty pages or so, Goudge effortlessly and sympathetically shifts from one point of view to another so that the reader lives the varied thoughts and emotions of each member of this large extended family. The whole has a subtle richness to it, like an old, well-faded Turkish carpet.
Alas, she lost me in the home stretch! I loved it up through the meeting with Uncle Hilary (one of my favorite Eliots since lol he reminded me of myself). Then she inserted a plot line about a diary that reveals the back story about Damerosehay and its original inhabitants. I suppose Gouge thought things were getting dull; they were sort of somnolent, unless you like those delicate family dramas, but I was rather enjoying it and the insertion seemed intrusive.
Then the multiple POVs got a bit too tangled up, and everyone was agonizing and moralizing a bit too much and there was this unnecessary storm....
Oh well. In the end, unlike many other reviewers, I felt that the right choices had been made, and for pretty much the right reasons. One thing that I'll add . While some have objected to the overtly religious message (and it did get preachy at times), I found myself pondering how hard it is to do the right thing without a sense of God--and without family and community.
August 24, 2014
As a teenager I read the sequel to this book, Pilgrim's Inn and didn't like it. I realize now it all due to a bit of immaturity on my part as the reader and also the fact I was missing a lot of back story. The Bird in the Tree has the back story.
This book came highly recommended by a reader I highly respect. I decided to give it a try, but found the early chapters a little slow and LONG. (Each chapter is about 20 pages, which is not condusive to "I'll read a quick chapter and then..." Something a busy mother of young children needs.) Nevertheless, I pushed on. About page 90 the story suddenly took hold and I found myself picking the book up to read a paragraph or page whenever time permitted. In the end I found this to be a very powerful story. I loved it. There is such deep rich truth in this that is as applicable today as it was when the story was written 74 years ago.
I'm planning to return to Pilgrim's Inn and read it with fresh eyes, but knowing Goudge's books aren't "quick" reads means it may be a month or two before I get the chance.
Definitely recommend this book. Push past the first 100 pages and you'll be glad you did!
This book came highly recommended by a reader I highly respect. I decided to give it a try, but found the early chapters a little slow and LONG. (Each chapter is about 20 pages, which is not condusive to "I'll read a quick chapter and then..." Something a busy mother of young children needs.) Nevertheless, I pushed on. About page 90 the story suddenly took hold and I found myself picking the book up to read a paragraph or page whenever time permitted. In the end I found this to be a very powerful story. I loved it. There is such deep rich truth in this that is as applicable today as it was when the story was written 74 years ago.
I'm planning to return to Pilgrim's Inn and read it with fresh eyes, but knowing Goudge's books aren't "quick" reads means it may be a month or two before I get the chance.
Definitely recommend this book. Push past the first 100 pages and you'll be glad you did!
July 16, 2016
4.5 Stars
This checked so, so many of my boxes. Beautiful seaside location in a beautiful mansion, lush passages on nature and the feelings of the characters, subtle romance, rewarding family relationships, the glorifying of every day life and mundane household tasks, and a period setting. I loved so many of Goudge's descriptions and this to me had just the right ratio of description to action.
This was only the first in a trilogy so I'm very much so looking forward to seeing many ends being tied up with characters I grew to love very quickly. I definitely came away wanting more so I'm very pleased I still have two more books.
This checked so, so many of my boxes. Beautiful seaside location in a beautiful mansion, lush passages on nature and the feelings of the characters, subtle romance, rewarding family relationships, the glorifying of every day life and mundane household tasks, and a period setting. I loved so many of Goudge's descriptions and this to me had just the right ratio of description to action.
This was only the first in a trilogy so I'm very much so looking forward to seeing many ends being tied up with characters I grew to love very quickly. I definitely came away wanting more so I'm very pleased I still have two more books.
March 18, 2016
The more I read Elizabeth Goudge the more I trust her. No matter the current trouble, she will make it right in the end, somehow. I think that might be the highest praise one could give an author.
July 2, 2019
I loved this!
June 16, 2021
This was a beautiful book.
I loved the descriptions, it is, in a way, a very peaceful book.
For the characters it has no bad/good characters. All the characters have their flaws and their strengths.
For some reason, I especially liked Hilary even though I know I would be really annoyed with him to. Kind of like Lucilla I guess:-)
Lucilla really grew with me over the course of the book. I didn't like her at first, but I really liked her later on.
And the ending, I loved it. B. E. A. U. T. I. F. U. L.
I think this is a book I will re-read many times, and I will like it more every time.
I loved the descriptions, it is, in a way, a very peaceful book.
For the characters it has no bad/good characters. All the characters have their flaws and their strengths.
For some reason, I especially liked Hilary even though I know I would be really annoyed with him to. Kind of like Lucilla I guess:-)
Lucilla really grew with me over the course of the book. I didn't like her at first, but I really liked her later on.
And the ending, I loved it. B. E. A. U. T. I. F. U. L.
I think this is a book I will re-read many times, and I will like it more every time.
November 28, 2022
Quite by chance I stumbled across Elizabeth Goudge, as I wanted to explore some cherished authors whose books are perhaps not so fashionable now. So……. without any of my usual trusted reviews to go on, I entered into the lives of the Eliot family and what a wonderful experience it was! The novel is set pre WW2 and centres around a rambling, old beautiful country estate, Damerosehay, in Hampshire and owned by the rather wonderful and eccentric Lucilla. When her most precious grandson falls in love with what Lucilla feels is a completely unsuitable match, ( the former wife of one of her sons, and mother to three of her grandchildren ) she steps in, in order to save her future family and estate .
I am making this sound all very dull!!! but Goudge is a simply magnificent writer, her prose is so beautiful; descriptions of sunrises; scenes so vividly portrayed that you are literally transported to the time and place in question.
‘The white cliffs of the island flushed apricot, the island itself seemed all built of gold. The water reflected the colours of land and sky and the painted hulls of boats glowed as though at any moment they would burst into flames. Even the old castle, crouched like an animal upon the water, took on a strange soft bloom of violet colour that melted it’s grimness into momentarily beauty.’
But this book offers more than lyrical prose, Goudge’s writing has substance and depth, there is an element of Christianity and the struggles of faith and duty . There is also a delightful wit and fantastic characterisation, so that you feel that you instantly know each individual personally, ( even Bastard the dog!!!)
This is the start of the Damerosehay trilogy and I will definitely be reading the next instalment 😊
I am making this sound all very dull!!! but Goudge is a simply magnificent writer, her prose is so beautiful; descriptions of sunrises; scenes so vividly portrayed that you are literally transported to the time and place in question.
‘The white cliffs of the island flushed apricot, the island itself seemed all built of gold. The water reflected the colours of land and sky and the painted hulls of boats glowed as though at any moment they would burst into flames. Even the old castle, crouched like an animal upon the water, took on a strange soft bloom of violet colour that melted it’s grimness into momentarily beauty.’
But this book offers more than lyrical prose, Goudge’s writing has substance and depth, there is an element of Christianity and the struggles of faith and duty . There is also a delightful wit and fantastic characterisation, so that you feel that you instantly know each individual personally, ( even Bastard the dog!!!)
This is the start of the Damerosehay trilogy and I will definitely be reading the next instalment 😊
July 12, 2011
One reviewer of this novel characterized it as a crushing sermon on the importance of duty over one's personal happiness and at times I did find the book a little preachy. I can certainly see their point of view but I think the character's arguments for this "duty bound" view on life was somewhat persuasive. I think Elizabeth Goudge was good at questioning our views of personal happiness vs. obligation. Is it right to sacrifice all you have held dear so far in life for a love that is all consuming (in the moment) but may dwindle over time? Is it best to hold onto those things which will last for passing unhappiness? Yes, there is an element of duty in that sacrifice but won't your new love at some point become a duty too? Probably and then you look back at the sacrifices you made and they don't seem worth it but then it's too late.
Anyways, I enjoyed it but it is VERY slow to get going, even more than some of her other works. The character exploration and detailed descriptions of the surroundings are somewhat worth it but I was tempted to skip stuff!
Anyways, I enjoyed it but it is VERY slow to get going, even more than some of her other works. The character exploration and detailed descriptions of the surroundings are somewhat worth it but I was tempted to skip stuff!
June 10, 2020
A lovely book.
November 3, 2023
I seriously did not think I'd like this book during the first couple of chapters. I could tell that the bones were there, but I always forget how much time Goudge spends setting up a story and dumping in all the backstory before getting to the point.
But boy does she ever get to the point. I'm just saying, as much as I don't want to be Ellen when I grow up, I absolutely do, too. Whoa... ouch. But seriously, Lucille is such a sweet, strong, vulnerable character, willing to give up her personal comfort to encourage others to do what is right.
Goudge takes a strong, hard stand against frivolous, self-centered divorce and/or marriage in a truly beautiful and sensitive way. I thought I'd hate it at many points, but every time I did... whoa...
My favorite character, however, I think is Hilary. He is so undervalued and underrated.
But boy does she ever get to the point. I'm just saying, as much as I don't want to be Ellen when I grow up, I absolutely do, too. Whoa... ouch. But seriously, Lucille is such a sweet, strong, vulnerable character, willing to give up her personal comfort to encourage others to do what is right.
Goudge takes a strong, hard stand against frivolous, self-centered divorce and/or marriage in a truly beautiful and sensitive way. I thought I'd hate it at many points, but every time I did... whoa...
My favorite character, however, I think is Hilary. He is so undervalued and underrated.
August 4, 2020
3.5 stars, I guess? I have intensely mixed feelings about this book.
To start with some of the good points:
1. It's so rare to find a book that really celebrates homemaking that I want to love it just for that.
2. The writing is really excellent.
3. The plot is refreshingly unexpected.
4. The characters are interesting.
Though, that kind of leads into the list of things I didn't like as well...
1. Characters are consistently introduced as likeable, and then, bam, laundry list of all their faults and flaws so you're suddenly confused about whether you're even supposed to like them.
2. I don't care about the sunlight on the leaves or how pretty the flowers are or the exact color of anything enough to read entire paragraphs about it. If you love this sort of descriptive narration PLEASE read this book immediately so this writing can have the appreciation it deserves. I can hardly even make my eyes focus on it after the first sentence or so.
3. This is a bit hard to explain without getting spoilery, so in the most general terms, there is a disagreement, about which some good points are brought up, but they are mixed in with points that are completely terrible and wrong. Details under spoiler tag here:
There's very little in the way of content, though there is discussion of both death and divorce, and I think sex is referenced in a veiled way. It's hard for me to have an age recommendations though, as I can't even decide if I want to recommend this book to anyone/everyone or not at all.
To start with some of the good points:
1. It's so rare to find a book that really celebrates homemaking that I want to love it just for that.
2. The writing is really excellent.
3. The plot is refreshingly unexpected.
4. The characters are interesting.
Though, that kind of leads into the list of things I didn't like as well...
1. Characters are consistently introduced as likeable, and then, bam, laundry list of all their faults and flaws so you're suddenly confused about whether you're even supposed to like them.
2. I don't care about the sunlight on the leaves or how pretty the flowers are or the exact color of anything enough to read entire paragraphs about it. If you love this sort of descriptive narration PLEASE read this book immediately so this writing can have the appreciation it deserves. I can hardly even make my eyes focus on it after the first sentence or so.
3. This is a bit hard to explain without getting spoilery, so in the most general terms, there is a disagreement, about which some good points are brought up, but they are mixed in with points that are completely terrible and wrong. Details under spoiler tag here:
There's very little in the way of content, though there is discussion of both death and divorce, and I think sex is referenced in a veiled way. It's hard for me to have an age recommendations though, as I can't even decide if I want to recommend this book to anyone/everyone or not at all.
June 5, 2021
Okay, do you guys remember how HARD I was complaining yesterday about the depiction of love in modern YA/modern lit in general???
I'm pretty sure God saw that and was like "Here, Samantha. Have something that will build you up. Something that will show you that some people still realize what imitation of My love looks like in relationships. Something that will show you that I am part of your reading life. Something that comes at just the right time to speak hope to you."
BECAUSE GUYS THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING.
Even independent of
-The excellent children who I LOVE
-The beautiful descriptions of everything
-The ship legend
-ALL the characters, especially Lucilla
-The dogs
-The overall cozy-cottagy feel
-HILARY
It was kind of the exact opposite of everything I've been complaining about, and yes I'm being vague because #spoilers, but IT WAS AMAZING. AND PERFECT. AND BEAUTIFUL. AND I NEEDED IT AND ELIZABETH GOUDGE, YOU WIN EVERYTHING.
4 stars, but definitely will go higher on a reread.
I'm pretty sure God saw that and was like "Here, Samantha. Have something that will build you up. Something that will show you that some people still realize what imitation of My love looks like in relationships. Something that will show you that I am part of your reading life. Something that comes at just the right time to speak hope to you."
BECAUSE GUYS THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING.
Even independent of
-The excellent children who I LOVE
-The beautiful descriptions of everything
-The ship legend
-ALL the characters, especially Lucilla
-The dogs
-The overall cozy-cottagy feel
-HILARY
It was kind of the exact opposite of everything I've been complaining about, and yes I'm being vague because #spoilers, but IT WAS AMAZING. AND PERFECT. AND BEAUTIFUL. AND I NEEDED IT AND ELIZABETH GOUDGE, YOU WIN EVERYTHING.
4 stars, but definitely will go higher on a reread.
February 9, 2025
I forgot how enjoyable a good novel could be! It's interesting reading this right after "How to Read and Write Like a Catholic." Clearly, this novel, nor Elizabeth Goudge, were not included in Hren's idea of a great Catholic novel/novelist, but Goudge did an admirable job showing grace and conversion and didn't have to include the depths of evil a person might face to do it.
March 9, 2025
I happened to read this at the perfect time. Several of the books I've been reading recently all seemed to be talking to each other as I read this story.
It was refreshing to read a story about what truth is and what faithfulness means in marriage. Excellent!
It was refreshing to read a story about what truth is and what faithfulness means in marriage. Excellent!
September 22, 2023
Beautiful book. I can’t remember a novel I’ve read that was more highlighted than this one.
June 12, 2023
This book is simply good - in all senses of the word - and delightfully at odds with contemporary cultural values.
Two quotes that stood out to me on this reading:
“But was it fair, she wondered now, that she should have had all the substance while Ellen had had only the shadow? And Ellen had been so ready for the substance, so well equipped with the right reactions to all the circumstances of a woman’s life, while she, Lucilla, had been always questioning, always straining away from the things that she must meet and face. No, it was not fair, but yet, in this contradictory world, it seemed the normal thing. More often than not a human creature seemed cast for the role that suited him least. There was a purpose here, perhaps. To swim with the stream was too easy; it was swimming against it that increased one’s strength. But it had surely been hard on Ellen.” (P. 33)
“‘Life is rather an unhappy affair, dear,’ said Lucilla. ‘And it’s just as well to face the fact. It’s essentially sad, woven of gray stuff; yet embroidered with such bright flowers.’”
(P. 252)
Two quotes that stood out to me on this reading:
“But was it fair, she wondered now, that she should have had all the substance while Ellen had had only the shadow? And Ellen had been so ready for the substance, so well equipped with the right reactions to all the circumstances of a woman’s life, while she, Lucilla, had been always questioning, always straining away from the things that she must meet and face. No, it was not fair, but yet, in this contradictory world, it seemed the normal thing. More often than not a human creature seemed cast for the role that suited him least. There was a purpose here, perhaps. To swim with the stream was too easy; it was swimming against it that increased one’s strength. But it had surely been hard on Ellen.” (P. 33)
“‘Life is rather an unhappy affair, dear,’ said Lucilla. ‘And it’s just as well to face the fact. It’s essentially sad, woven of gray stuff; yet embroidered with such bright flowers.’”
(P. 252)
June 22, 2013
This is one of my grandma's favorite books. I liked the writing style (very descriptive!) and the characters, and will probably read the subsequent books in the trilogy.
Update a few days later: My brief review didn't do this book justice. Goudge's writing is actually BEAUTIFUL, and I keep thinking about the landscapes and characters she created. She clearly has a real admiration and respect for the earth's beauty and bounty, and painted wondrous pictures of Damerosehay's gardens and all the fowl and foliage therin. I would love to visit a real estate like that. Actually, I have a burning desire to LIVE in a place that can have multiple gardens on its grounds, including one that is SECRET. Can you imagine?! I really really want a secret garden, attached to my kitchen garden and flower garden by way of a wrought-iron fence, that has a giant oak tree with a swing hanging from its largest limb right in the middle of it. Is that too much to ask?
As for the characters, I can picture most of them clearly in my head. They were all entirely likable, even the antagonist Nadine, which is a slight grievance I have with the book. Every one of them were ultimately very honorable, and did the right thing, which was kind of refreshing but maybe not very realistic. I don't know; maybe in that day and age (1920's?) it was more realistic. I didn't really like the author's apparent obsession with beauty, and how beautiful people are usually lacking in other areas (such as intelligence or dilligence.) Again, maybe that is the truth in her world, but as a beautiful person I found it offensive. (HEE HEE! HA HA!!)
Anyway, I think Bird in the Tree was a fine stand-alone book, but I am interested to see where the next two books take the story. Will the Eliot children be grown in the next book? Will Lucilla be dead? I will have to ask my grandma if she has those books too.
Update a few days later: My brief review didn't do this book justice. Goudge's writing is actually BEAUTIFUL, and I keep thinking about the landscapes and characters she created. She clearly has a real admiration and respect for the earth's beauty and bounty, and painted wondrous pictures of Damerosehay's gardens and all the fowl and foliage therin. I would love to visit a real estate like that. Actually, I have a burning desire to LIVE in a place that can have multiple gardens on its grounds, including one that is SECRET. Can you imagine?! I really really want a secret garden, attached to my kitchen garden and flower garden by way of a wrought-iron fence, that has a giant oak tree with a swing hanging from its largest limb right in the middle of it. Is that too much to ask?
As for the characters, I can picture most of them clearly in my head. They were all entirely likable, even the antagonist Nadine, which is a slight grievance I have with the book. Every one of them were ultimately very honorable, and did the right thing, which was kind of refreshing but maybe not very realistic. I don't know; maybe in that day and age (1920's?) it was more realistic. I didn't really like the author's apparent obsession with beauty, and how beautiful people are usually lacking in other areas (such as intelligence or dilligence.) Again, maybe that is the truth in her world, but as a beautiful person I found it offensive. (HEE HEE! HA HA!!)
Anyway, I think Bird in the Tree was a fine stand-alone book, but I am interested to see where the next two books take the story. Will the Eliot children be grown in the next book? Will Lucilla be dead? I will have to ask my grandma if she has those books too.
November 17, 2013
This is a book not to be hurried but read leisurely just to savour the beautiful writing.
The beautiful pictures that Elizabeth Goudge paints are just delightful.
The beautiful pictures that Elizabeth Goudge paints are just delightful.
May 11, 2020
Reread 5/11/2020:
Still good as ever!
Still good as ever!
August 7, 2022
I was able to find an old, perhaps first edition, copy of this book on interlibrary loan. It was published in 1940, and was worn and barely held together with heavy tape. But wow, was it worth the read! Anyone who has ever lived in a loveless marriage and toyed with the idea of an affair should read this book. It teaches us that it is worthwhile to look beyond the immediate gratification of our desires and consider the whole picture of the people who will be affected by our decisions - both present and future. And it does so couched in the lovely lyrical writing that is characteristic of Elizabeth Goudge.
Despite the use of multiple points of view, there is never any confusion about which character is speaking or thinking. Being privy to the inner thought life of each person helps us to see the great struggle that is going on as they wrestle with their feelings; we can sense the seismic shift in their spiritual battle.
But can anyone tell me how to pronounce Damerosehay? I have rolled that name around in my mind over and over trying to decide how it should be said! Anyway, on to book 2 The Pilgrim's Inn.
Despite the use of multiple points of view, there is never any confusion about which character is speaking or thinking. Being privy to the inner thought life of each person helps us to see the great struggle that is going on as they wrestle with their feelings; we can sense the seismic shift in their spiritual battle.
But can anyone tell me how to pronounce Damerosehay? I have rolled that name around in my mind over and over trying to decide how it should be said! Anyway, on to book 2 The Pilgrim's Inn.
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