At first, as you might imagine, the marriage of William and Marianne is a miserable failure. But through his laziness and a disastrous slip of the pen, he sends for the wrong girl, and it’s Marianne who greets him from the bow of the Green Dolphin.Įlizabeth Goudge takes this situation into very interesting territory. When William, through a series of mishaps, winds up in New Zealand, he writes to ask if his bride will come to him. The two are made for each other, and are blissfully happy together. Both are in love with William, who is well-meaning but lazy, but William has eyes only for Marguerite. Marianne is brilliant, ambitious, sharp-tempered, and bitter that she could not have been born a man Marguerite was born happy, and laughs wherever she goes. Marguerite and Marianne, sisters with very different temperaments, live in the Channel Islands. Green Dolphin Country is a book whose plot, taken as a skeleton, makes it sound like an over-the-top romance. She is also one of the rare writers who writes equally well for adults and children. She writes beautifully and evocatively, and although she deals with serious subjects - self-sacrifice, independence, humility, adultery, enduring love - she has a sense of humor and an eye for detail, and she is never leaden. Elizabeth Goudge is one of my very favorite authors, and one that I regret is not more read.
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