The Little White Horse

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Delightfully charming and fanciful.

This Carnegie Medal-winner from the mid-1900s was a fun little escape into the whimsical world of orphaned Maria Merryweather who finds her home, family, and purpose when she goes to live with her bachelor uncle.

I enjoyed the descriptive writing style and the way the author made the various characters come to life.  I especially enjoyed Marmaduke Scarlet, the dwarf and house servant whose vocabulary and general way of speaking tickled me immensely.  (Example:  "I gathered from the tone of your voice that this tea-party was to be a great occasion, and great occasions need to be greatly celebrated.  The mere suggestion of meanness, upon a great occasion, is much to be deprecated.  The bodily sustenance of the inner man as well as the aesthetic satisfaction of the outward eye should be on a lavish scale" (222).

I also thought Wrolf, the dog/lion was particularly well-done and Old Parson was simply a delight with his way of bringing the Bible to life, of knowing his parishioners to such an extent that he both commended and corrected them, and of engaging the children and creating a sense of community.

As you might expect from a children's book written in this time period, there is a good deal of moralizing by the characters discussing traits such as love, humility and courage and "having too much sense to let the spirits be dampened by minor disappointments" (135).  The language was flowing and poetic and took me both back in time and into another world where magical creatures and the resolution of a centuries-long feud by a little girl seems possible.  As a book lover, I especially enjoyed this language: 

"(The room had) no other furniture and no pictures or ornaments.  But the room did not need them because of the books, which stood there upon the shelves breathing out a friendliness that seemed to furnish and ornament the room. . .Maria had no doubt that the loving usage that had turned the books into living creatures was Old Parson's" (111).

It's been a few months since I participated in Carrie's book club, but I enjoyed this selection and likely wouldn't have read it without it being the book for March.  I'm looking forward to reading another P.G. Wodehouse, Very Good, Jeeves, for the book club in April.  Maybe I'll get to read it while in Phoenix! :)