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The Little White Horse

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Language
  
English

Media type
  
Print (hardcover)

OCLC
  
12658611

Author
  
Elizabeth Goudge

LC Class
  
PZ7.G71 Li

4.1/5
Goodreads

Publication date
  
June 1946

Pages
  
286 pp (first edition)

Originally published
  
June 1946

Illustrator
  
C. Walter Hodges

The Little White Horse t0gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcQ16uSte8qnUdjxv

Publisher
  
University of London Press

Adaptations
  
The Secret of Moonacre (2008)

Genres
  
Fantasy, Children's literature, Speculative fiction

Similar
  
Green Dolphin Country, Linnets and Valerians, The Dean's Watch, The Scent of Water, The Herb of Grace

Book review the little white horse


The Little White Horse is a low fantasy children's novel by Elizabeth Goudge, first published by the University of London Press in 1946 with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges. Coward–McCann published a U.S. edition next year. Set in 1842, it features a recently orphaned teenage girl who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. The estate, village, and vicinity are shrouded in mystery and magic; the "little white horse" is a unicorn.

Contents

Goudge won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. It has been adapted for film and television.

WorldCat participating libraries report holding editions in eleven languages of translation.

Plot summary

Maria Merryweather becomes an orphan at age 13, upon her father's death in 1842. She is sent to the Moonacre Manor somewhere in the west of England, accompanied by her governess Miss Heliotrope and dog Wiggins. There she finds herself in a world out of time. Her cousin and guardian Sir Benjamin Merryweather is one of the "sun" Merryweathers, and she loves him right away, as sun and moon Merryweathers do. Maria discovers that there is an ancient mystery about the founding of the estate.

She is aided by wonderful people and magical beasts, but it is only by self-sacrifice and perseverance, too, that Maria is able to save Moonacre, right the wrongs, reunite lost loves and finally bring peace to the valley.

Characters

  • Maria Merryweather – A smart, thirteen-year-old orphan with red hair and freckles. She rescues a hare in the forest, names it Serena and keeps it as her pet.
  • Miss Heliotrope – Maria's governess. She is old-fashioned and very tall, with forget-me-not-blue eyes.
  • Sir Benjamin Merryweather – Maria's cousin and guardian.
  • Marmaduke Scarlet – Sir Benjamin's cook and housekeeper. Also the owner of Zachariah the cat. He does not like feminine curiosity and sees his kitchen as a private domain. He is a wonderful chef.
  • Digweed – Sir Benjamin's coachman and gardener.
  • Loveday Minette – Sir Benjamin's ex-fiancée. She is known in the book to have a passion for pink geraniums. When their argument broke out about the geraniums, she left Moonacre and got married in town to a lawyer.
  • Robin – The son of Loveday Minette.
  • Old Parson – The parson who helps Maria give Paradise Hill back to God. His real name is Louis de Fontenelle and he was Miss Heliotrope's childhood sweetheart.
  • Monsieur Coque de Noir – the black-hearted owner of the castle in the pine wood and leader of a wicked band.

    • The animals

  • Zachariah – Marmaduke's special cat. He helps out Maria and Robin. He writes messages in the ashes in the kitchen fireplace.
  • Wrolf (pronounced Rolf) – A lion who acts as Maria's special protector, called a dog by Sir Benjamin and others.
  • Serena – A hare that Maria saved from hunters.
  • Wiggins – Maria's greedy dog.
  • Periwinkle – Maria's gray pony whose other name is Joy-of-the-Ground.

    • Adaptations

    The 1994 television mini-series Moonacre was based on The Little White Horse.

    In 2008, the book was adapted into a film called The Secret of Moonacre, written by Lucy Shuttleworth and Graham Alborough and directed by Gabor Csupo. Starring Dakota Blue Richards as Maria, the movie was mostly shot in Hungary and released in February 2009.

    Praises

    Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling mentioned that The Little White Horse was her favourite childhood book.

    References

    The Little White Horse Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA