Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Goudge

The Elizabeth Goudge Reading Week is hosted by Lory @ The Emerald City Book Review.

I have been in Devon this month so the book I chose to read by Elizabeth Goudge was Gentian Hill because it is also set in that county.

Mid 19th century Torquay

" There was no sound anywhere. Voices were stilled upon sea and shore and the white gulls with their gold-tipped wings floated silently. The half-moons of golden water, swung and withdrawn so rhythmically by the ebbing tide, creamed soundlessly upon the golden sand, and the tiny sound of the ripples lapping against the jetties and the hulls of the fishing boats was lost in the great silence.
Into this vast peace, this clear light, sailed the great ships...."

1803, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Royal Navy ships find a welcome respite in the sheltered waters of Torbay. On one such frigate a young midshipman is reaching the end of his endurance. Anthony Louis Mary O'Connell is 15 yrs old, an intelligent, sensitive boy raised by his grandmother until her death when he was taken on as a midshipman on a distant relative's ship. A harsh and brutal life and two months later the lure of the land is too much for Anthony and he deserts the Navy.
Assuming the name of Zachary he wanders the countryside in search of work becoming increasingly ragged, footsore and hungry.

Weekaborough Farm is the home of Mary, an orphan saved from a shipwreck and adopted by farmer Sprigg and his wife.
At the age of 10 she is 'an elfin child with the graceful movements a wild woodland creature, a fawn or a gazelle.'
Mary loves the animals and frequently raids the larder at night to secretly feed the cats kept outside. It is while she is in the barn one night that Zachary appears and the two young people instinctively recognise a kindred soul in each other.

Events see Zachary return to the Navy and Mary must wait patiently for his return. 

St Michael's Chapel

The story is a retelling of an old legend of a shipwrecked mariner who became a hermit and built the chapel high up the steep side of a hill. A place to pray for those who face the perils of the sea.

Elizabeth Goudge's deep love for the Devon countryside is obvious with her beautiful, often mystical descriptions of Nature which she balances with the down to earth telling of daily routine on a farm. The ancient customs and rituals - wassailing, harvesting and corn dollies, the ploughing chant and the bull roarer- fascinating stuff to learn about.

An enchanting blend of fact and fiction, of Pagan otherworldliness and Christian faith. It's so long since I read any of Elizabeth Goudge's books ( one exception) that I'd forgotten what a unique voice she has , and one that is hard to describe, except to say I loved it. I think Love is the theme in Gentian Hill  - the following quote is written on a scrap of paper and moves from character to character throughout the story.

"Love is the divinity who creates peace among men and calm upon the sea, the windless silence of storms, repose and sleep in sadness. Love sings to all things who live and are, soothing the troubled minds of gods and men."

Related post - Green Dolphin Country by Elizabeth Goudge 

Reading England 2015 - Down to Devon with Anthony Trollope

Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope

" ...and in those southern parts of Devonshire the summer sun in July is very hot. There is no other part of England like it. The lanes are low and narrow, and not a breath of air stirs through them. The ground rises in hills on all sides, so that every spot is a sheltered nook. The rich red earth drinks in the heat and holds it, and no breezes come up from the southern torpid sea. Of all counties in England Devonshire is the fairest to the eye..."

Rachel Ray p16

The first three stops on my journey through the counties were in the North and although I have enjoyed everything I've read it's nice to now travel to a part of the country little touched by the Industrial Revolution. I haven't been to Devon but I have been to others close by - Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and I imagine it is similar - they are all very beautiful.

Rachel Ray is set in the fictional small rural town of Baslehurst which Anthony Trollope based on the real town of Kingsbridge situated in the south at the head of an estuary and six miles from the sea.

Luke Rowan comes to Baslehurst when he inherits a part ownership in a brewery which is presently being run by Mr Tappit who makes ' vile beer', 'a muddy brew'. As most of the locals drink cider nobody cares about the quality of the beer but Luke is an ambitious young man with new ideas for improvements and it isn't long before he and Mr Tappit are at loggerheads. Mrs Tappit, however, has her eye on marrying him to one of her three daughters.

About a mile and a half outside Baslehurst is the tiny hamlet of Bragg's End.

'It had a little green and a little wooden bridge over a little stream - half a dozen labourer's cottages and a beer or cider shop.'

In one such cottage live the widowed Mrs Ray and her two daughters. The elder, Dorothea, after a short-lived marriage to a curate is also a widow and a firm adherent to the Evangelical faith, a believer that ' cheerfulness is a sin.' As Mrs Ray is a sweet but weak and indecisive woman Dorothea has no trouble in ruling the roost at home. The younger daughter, Rachel, is in her late teens, a pretty country girl with a happy disposition and enough spirit to stand up to her sister.

When Luke and Rachel meet there is an immediate attraction which very soon becomes, with Mrs Ray's wavering approval, an engagement. Unfortunately, when Luke has to go to London for a period of time the combined forces of Dorothea's disapproval and the Tappits campaign to blacken Luke's name pressure Mrs Ray into withdrawing her consent to the marriage and Rachel is forced to comply.

Rachel Ray is not only a charming love story but a portrayal of middle class provincial life. The gossip and conflicts of a small community and their mistrust and suspicion of outsiders, the influence of the dour and gloomy Evangelical religion, commerce, class warfare and politics make for very entertaining reading when told with typical Anthony Trollope humour.

Very easy to read and at 400p not too long - I would recommend Rachel Ray to anyone who hasn't read Anthony Trollope and not sure where to start.

I loved it!

Anthony Trollope Bicentennial Celebration
Reading England 2015

The Spin Winner is...

No 2

Which means I will be reading...

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Oh dear!! It has been on every spin list I've made - I really want to read it and I know I will love it when I do........but not right now.

Obviously the spin fairy wasn't listening to my wish for something short and easy because at over 600p it is one of the longest books on the list.....and I've only just finished Mary Barton by the same author.

I don't own a copy and went over to the library catalogue to place a hold but it seems they no longer have a copy so next stop the Book Depository to buy one but that will be at least two weeks wait. This is definitely a book I want to be able to enjoy at my own pace so am not going to pressure myself into getting it read by a deadline.

You can't win 'em all!

Look forward to seeing what other spinners will be reading. 

Classics Club Spin #9

March has come and gone and I've been MIA throughout for a variety of reasons - some good, some not so good. That's life and I'm not even going to try to catch up but am letting last month go and looking ahead to April.

Another spin from the The Classics Club is just what I need to get things rolling again.  
The Goal - to make a list of twenty unread titles from our list and on Monday 6 April one number will be chosen. The challenge is to read the book that corresponds to the number by May 15.

My Spin List

Five Lovely Ladies

1. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
2. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

3. Red Pottage by Mary Cholmondeley

4. The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
5. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Five that have been on the shelf too long

6. The Odd Women by George Gissing
7. The Story of a New Zealand River by Jane Mander

8. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

9. The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

10. Vanity Fair by William M Thackeray

Five  about the Boys

11. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

12. Adam Bede by George Eliot

13. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

14. Maurice by E M Forster

15. Dr Thorne by Anthony Trollope

Five by authors I haven't read before

16. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
17. Highland River by Neil M.Gunn
18. The Good Companions by J.B.Priestley
19. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
20. Helen by Maria Edgeworth.

Keeping my fingers crossed for something short and easy!

Monthly Roundup - February 2015

Books read in February = 8

Helbeck of Bannisdale by Mrs Humphry Ward
In Chancery by John Galsworthy

The Winter Foundlings by Kate Rhodes
The Crooked House by Christobel Kent
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Mangle Street Murders by M R C Kasasian

One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens
The King in the North by Max Adams (NF)

rereading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 100/407p

Fiction = 7
Non-Fiction = 1
Library Books = 5
E-books = 0
Off my Shelf - 3

Other Posts

Reading England 2015 - Where to next?
Library Loot                                          
Shirley Country - A Visual Tour
I'm Reading..                                 
Library Loot - Books for The Begorrathon

Added to My Bookshelf = 2

Early for my hairdressing appointment I popped into the charity shop and couldn't resist the James Herriot which I bought for the beautiful photographs of Yorkshire but no doubt will also reread the stories. For $2 the poetry anthology was too good to leave behind.

The Best of James Herriot - memories of a country vet
The Rattle Bag - edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes.

What's Ahead in March

• hopefully another month of summer although the mornings already have an autumn feel.
• continuing Jane Eyre
• To Let - the third part of The Forsyte Saga
• another county, another book for Reading England
• The Begorrathon - reading Ireland.

That should be enough to keep me busy!

Library Loot - Books for The Begorrathon

March brings The Begorrathon - a month long cultural celebration of all things Irish hosted by Cathy@746 Books and The Fluff is Raging . You can read all about it at either of those links.

With the end of the month rapidly approaching I set off to the library to pick up the three books I had planned to read but old habits are returning and I came home with a couple more than expected. 

Through Connemara in a Governess Cart by Somerville & Ross.......I have always enjoyed Lisa's reviews of the books of S & A and have had this one on my TBR for quite a while. It is the only one my library has but fits in nicely with The Begorrathon.

Laws in Conflict by Cora Harrison.....In 2010 I read the first in this mystery series set in 16th century Ireland, really enjoyed it and was looking forward to more. Unfortunately the library never bought any more  until last month when I noticed they had added all further seven of the series - I have some catching up to do.

A History of Loneliness by John Boyne.....'a courageous, deeply moving account of a nation and a man living through a period of cataclysmic, irreversible change.'

Academy Street by Mary Costello .....' the heartbreaking and evocative story of one woman's life spanning six decades.' The sort of book I would have expected to be of chunkster proportions and I'm interested to see how a lifetime can be portrayed in 178 pages.

The Doll's House by Louise Phillips ... Irish Crime. Criminal psychologist Dr Kate Pearson is called in to help in the investigation of a murder after a body is found in a Dublin canal.

*****

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire @ The Captive Reader and Linda @ Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they have checked out from the library.

I'm reading....

......more books at once at once than I usually do. There are books all over the house with bookmarks inserted at various points of progress and when I look for something to write a post about I come up empty handed......nothing is finished. So ....I'm reading -

The Brontes by Juliet Barker, although browsing is probably a better description, and discovering the pleasure of owning a book that needs time and concentration to appreciate. I love finding threads that link one author to another and here I read of Charlotte Bronte's visit in 1850 to Fox How, the home of the Arnolds. Having a ' highly idealized impression of the deceased Dr Arnold........it was an intense disappointment to meet his widow and daughters' who she found to be ' lacking that genuineness and simplicity one seemed to have a right to expect in the chosen life-companion of Dr Arnold..........neither she or her daughters were intellectual.'

Dear me! Charlotte - a touch of intellectual snobbery there.

Mary Arnold (Mrs Ward) speaks of the same occasion in an address given to the Bronte Society at Bradford in 1917. You can read this article here - it's very entertaining if inaccurate at times and is only one in a collection from various people written to celebrate the 1916 centenary of Charlotte's birth. Which means we have a bicentenary next year and I should have saved all this Bronte reading until then. 

I'm rereading Jane Eyre now - it's the choice of the Cornflower Book Group and as it has been on my Classics Club list for almost three years I thought this was a good opportunity to reacquaint myself with a book I read in my teens and  know I'll be seeing from a completely different perspective.


The King in the North by Max Adams - NF

Seventh-century Britain and the biography of King Oswald - considered the first great English monarch (634 - 42) he re-united and re-Christianised the Northeast; founded a monastery on Lindisfarne and forged a hybrid culture of Briton, Irish, Scot and Anglo-Saxon. Much of it is set in Northumbria around Bamburgh Castle with its glorious coastal views although nothing remains from Oswald's time except the gateway that bears his name. 

Bamburgh Castle

St Oswald's Gate

  







I'm really enjoying this and it's providing some 
excellent background for Beowulf but can only read it in small doses so can't see me finishing it before the end of the month.

Finally two light and relaxing books for bedtime..

The Second Deadly Sin by Asa Larsson - scandinavian crime.
One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens - the second in the author's chronicles of her working life - this time she's doing her nursing training. Easy reading but not as funny as One Pair of Hands.