Comfort reading with a purpose by Susan Sanderson
Ben Jeapes’ March post mentioned St Giles’ church in Oxford.
Elizabeth Goudge was a Christian writer at a time when Christianity was the faith of the overwhelming majority in the UK .
Susan always wanted to be a writer. In 2012 she revived her interest in writing with a blogging project to collect the kinds of sayings, which were much used in her childhood.
Unusually for me, I decided to analyse the book as I went
along making notes after each chapter about how the story had developed, which
new characters and what background information were introduced. This was back in March. I have already reviewed the book on Sue’s Trifles.
In case you are particularly interested in my analysis, my notes are in
the photos below.
Towers in the Mist was one of the first YA books I read. It
was published as a Peacock, a long gone imprint of the Penguin group. (Puffin
was for children, Penguin fiction for adults, Peacock, YA and Pelican,
non-fiction.)
As a younger child I had read and been totally captivated by The
Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, who also wrote a good number of books
for adults.
Towers in the Mist is a historical novel set in Elizabethan
times. It includes such well-known (literary) characters as Walter Raleigh, Philip
Sidney and Thomas Bodley, who founded the Bodleian Library. The book tells the
story of a year or so in Oxford
Poets deliberate over the choice of words. Scholars get into scrapes and children grow up faster than their father realises.
Even minor characters have personalities.
Poets deliberate over the choice of words. Scholars get into scrapes and children grow up faster than their father realises.
Even minor characters have personalities.
The characters and their way of life are described in the
context of much action. There is tragedy, comedy, romance, religious strife, disease, and the passing seasons starting on May Day and ending in the same location.
While my experience of reading this book in 2020 was quite
different from the first time I read it, it was still thoroughly enjoyable and
brought a tear to my eye!
I wonder how much it strengthened my youthful ambition to be a writer.
What have you been reading?
I wonder how much it strengthened my youthful ambition to be a writer.
What have you been reading?
Susan experiments with factual writing, fiction, humour and poetry. She does not yet have a book to her name. Her interests include words, languages, music, knitting and crochet. She has experience of the world of work, being a stay-at-home mum and an empty-nester. She is active in her local community and Church, where she sings alto in the choir. She and her husband live in Cumbria .
Follow her on Twitter @suesconsideredt
In April participated in Blogging from A to Z on Sue's Trifles with the Easter story
I read many of Elizabeth Goudge's books when I was young, but never Towers in the Mist. Or the Little White Horse. I remember Peacock! Along the same lines, I loved (and still do), The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively and The Armourer's House by Rosemary Sutcliffe. I have just realised that for the first time in my life, I'm not reading. I'm managing a chapter of Emma every night before bed, but usually I'd be ready about 4 books a week. The reason I'm not is because I'm writing so much. Quite a realisation!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have read either of the books you mentioned, Ruth. I have read and enjoyed other books by Rosemary Sutcliffe. It's great that you are writing so much. Other things do tend to push reading out at times.
DeleteSounds a lovely book! I wonder I didn't discover it, as I adored and consumed historical fiction in those years one is at the top of childhood and the bottom of becoming an adult! I remember Elizabeth Goudge as writer my mother, and possibly my paternal Grandma, read. Back then, 'religion' was acceptable by publishing houses, I think they are foolish to abandon that open attitude now, since 'religion' or its absence actually does drive societies, and there's no harm in including it in stories if it's not pushing a line.
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