Happy Birthday, Elizabeth Goudge. I can’t tell you what an impact your books have made on my life. Your fiction is so beautifully real, full of vitality, moments that you have read and lived, a compost of life. Your non-fiction collections inspiring and beautiful. If there is one of way of describing what you wrote it would be that you have found romance in real life. The sweeping nature observations, your love of England, your beautiful turns of phrase, and your real, troubled characters that could be anyone of us. Their thoughts and feelings ring true. I love that your writing forces me to slow down as not to miss one single thing. It makes me realize how fast I live, how distracted I exist, and what a gift I’ve been given by God here in my place on earth. I realize that I’m gushing and I know you weren’t perfect or that we would have really seen eye to eye on everything, and yet, this stay-at-home mother has found in your words, a feast for the cracked edges of her soul. I have found that my heart is turned toward my Creator and the imperfect, yet lovely relationships with people all around me. I have reread Pilgrim’s Inn and A City of Bells many times, and others I still remember in detail. Your words have become cherished friends and I will continue to revisit them for years to come.
“In times of storm and tempest, of indecision and desolation, a book already known and loved makes better reading than something new and untried … nothing is so warming and companionable.”
Elizabeth Goudge, A City of Bells
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A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 
Beautifully expressed. I plan to read another of her books this year. She’s so inspiring, and I know I always write the same about you, but I am at loss for words, hahaha, you write so well, so real, and you are so beautiful and inspiring, Amy.
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Silvia, you are so encouraging and a kindred soul! ❤️
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I discovered Elizabeth Goudge just this past year and have read a half dozen of her books! Lovely and powerful, surprising and inspiring…. I loved how you worded it all! The first book of hers we read aloud Green Dolphin Street. I have teens, young adults and one pre-teen so it was a bit advanced but worked as a read-aloud. My fifteen year old decided she didn’t want to hear it once she saw the love-triangle coming and she couldn’t bear to listen thinking there could be no redeeming end. The rest of us stuck with it and were more than compensated! It’s so full of powerful lessons and character development and REDEMPTION!! I think I’ll go look for a copy of A City of Bells or The Dean’s Watch! Thank you for sharing!!
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Aww. Patti, we are kindred spirits once again! 😍❤️
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I read a number of her books when I was young. I’ll bet I would appreciate them even more now. Thanks for writing about her.
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Thanks, Anne. Yes, revisiting past reads often reveals something new! 💜
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I just opened my copy of “The Dean’s Watch” last week and was drawn into the setting. But got waylaid by a couple pieces of lighter reading that I felt more “fit” for. My eldest daughter read “Green Dolphin Street” in high school because it was sitting on our shelf. I haven’t read it yet. Thanks for your beautifully shared tribute.
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Yes. I totally understand! She is a deeper writer, so it takes more brain power for me to get into the story. Once I’m in, though, I’m all in, slowly savoring. She is a great person to read in deep winter, I think! 💜
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