The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge...a Review

 Sometimes you feel that you need something different and lately I have been experiencing just that in my reading tastes.   Usually I like crime, mystery/thrillers and suspense novels.  As a grandmother I try to read some books that my 10, 11, and 12 year old grandsons enjoy.   That's how I met young Harry Potter and how I fell in love with that series.   When I learned that The Little White Horse was J.K. Rowlings favorite childhood book, I absolutely had to read it.

   However, the wierdest thing happened when I picked up a copy and started to read, I went straight to sleep...every time.   I really had a hard time with the length of the chapters and Ms Goudge's lengthy, albeit charming narrative.  I could see that it was going to be a happy story and I did want to sink my teeth into it.  About halfway through, it happened and I read when I could not fall asleep.

  Maria Merriweather is our principal character and she has been brought up as befits a fine young lady.   She has lost her father and her home and travels with her governess, Miss Heliotrope, and her dog, Wiggins, to her cousin’s estate, Moonacre Manor.   This was truly a delightful fairytale, and Maria had a strong heritage of wrongs that needed to be righted and all hoped that she was the one who would right the wrongs and rid the area of Them.   During her adventures at Moonacre Manor, she makes many friends in both the people and the animals..  To meet those folks, and know who Them is, do read the story.   It is charming, sweet and I think I will read it again to my grand daughter when she is a little older.  It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise and as would befit a fairytale, ends with a happily ever after.