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Du Frocq family
Island Magic
A lonely wanderer... A magical island... And Two People Bewitched By Love....
The Channel Islands were divided in allegiance between France and England. Of French blood, and yet subjects of Queen Victoria, the islanders were curious hybrid creatures. But now, in 1888, England is slowly stretching out her arms to them.
Colin du Frocq is eight years old, and his dreams are of the sea that surrounds his home. By day he steals away and takes to the sea in any boat that is sailing. At night he lies in bed listening to the waves beating against the shore. Then one night, in a wild storm, a ship drives onto the nearby cliffs and a strange man enters Colin's life, changing Colin's course forever.
A twist of fate brought Ranulph back to a springtime place that had forgotten him. A proud and beautiful woman offered him refuge, even though she did not understand why, as she trembled before his gaze.
Now Ranulph could feel the spell of the Island twisting around him, binding him to the world of love and companionship he had rejected forever.
A storm-wracked sea had brought him home. It was the magnificent fury of another storm that taught him the splendor of life and the power of love.
The Channel Islands were divided in allegiance between France and England. Of French blood, and yet subjects of Queen Victoria, the islanders were curious hybrid creatures. But now, in 1888, England is slowly stretching out her arms to them.
Colin du Frocq is eight years old, and his dreams are of the sea that surrounds his home. By day he steals away and takes to the sea in any boat that is sailing. At night he lies in bed listening to the waves beating against the shore. Then one night, in a wild storm, a ship drives onto the nearby cliffs and a strange man enters Colin's life, changing Colin's course forever.
A twist of fate brought Ranulph back to a springtime place that had forgotten him. A proud and beautiful woman offered him refuge, even though she did not understand why, as she trembled before his gaze.
Now Ranulph could feel the spell of the Island twisting around him, binding him to the world of love and companionship he had rejected forever.
A storm-wracked sea had brought him home. It was the magnificent fury of another storm that taught him the splendor of life and the power of love.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
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547 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Goudge
64 books892 followersElizabeth Goudge was an English author of novels, short stories and children's books.
Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge was born on 24 April 1900 in Wells, Somerset, in Tower House close by the cathedral in an area known as The Liberty, Her father, the Reverend Henry Leighton Goudge, taught in the cathedral school. Her mother was Miss Ida Collenette from the Channel Isles. Elizabeth was an only child. The family moved to Ely for a Canonry as Principal of the theological college. Later, when her father was made Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, they moved to Christ Church, Oxford.
She went to boarding school during WWI and later to Arts College, presumably at Reading College. She made a small living as teacher, and continued to live with her parents. During this time, she wrote a few plays, and was encouraged to write novels by a publisher. As her writing career took off, she began to travel to other nations. Unfortunately, she suffered from depression for much of her life. She had great empathy for people and a talent for finding the comic side of things, displayed to great effect in her writing.
Goudge's first book, The Fairies' Baby and Other Stories (1919), was a failure and it was several years before she authored Island Magic (1934), which is based on Channel Island stories, many of which she had learned from her mother, who was from Guernsey. After the death of her father, Goudge and her mother went to Devon, and eventually wound up living there in a small cottage. There, she wrote prolifically and was happy.
After the death of her mother, and at the wishes of Goudge's family who wished her to live closer to them, she found a companion who moved with her to Rose Cottage in Reading. She lived out her life there, and had many dogs in her life. Goudge loved dogs, and much preferred their company to that of humans. She continued to write until shortly before her death, when ill health, successive falls, and cataracts hindered her ability to write. She was much loved.
Goudge was awarded the Carnegie Medal for The Little White Horse (1946), the book which J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter stories, has said was her favorite as a child. The television mini-series Moonacre was based on The Little White Horse. Her Green Dolphin Country (1944) was made into a film (under its American title, Green Dolphin Street) which won the Academy Award for Special Effects in 1948.
A Diary of Prayer (1966) was one of Goudge's last works. She spent her last years in her cottage on Peppard Common, just outside Henley-on-Thames, where a blue plaque was unveiled in 2008.
Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge was born on 24 April 1900 in Wells, Somerset, in Tower House close by the cathedral in an area known as The Liberty, Her father, the Reverend Henry Leighton Goudge, taught in the cathedral school. Her mother was Miss Ida Collenette from the Channel Isles. Elizabeth was an only child. The family moved to Ely for a Canonry as Principal of the theological college. Later, when her father was made Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, they moved to Christ Church, Oxford.
She went to boarding school during WWI and later to Arts College, presumably at Reading College. She made a small living as teacher, and continued to live with her parents. During this time, she wrote a few plays, and was encouraged to write novels by a publisher. As her writing career took off, she began to travel to other nations. Unfortunately, she suffered from depression for much of her life. She had great empathy for people and a talent for finding the comic side of things, displayed to great effect in her writing.
Goudge's first book, The Fairies' Baby and Other Stories (1919), was a failure and it was several years before she authored Island Magic (1934), which is based on Channel Island stories, many of which she had learned from her mother, who was from Guernsey. After the death of her father, Goudge and her mother went to Devon, and eventually wound up living there in a small cottage. There, she wrote prolifically and was happy.
After the death of her mother, and at the wishes of Goudge's family who wished her to live closer to them, she found a companion who moved with her to Rose Cottage in Reading. She lived out her life there, and had many dogs in her life. Goudge loved dogs, and much preferred their company to that of humans. She continued to write until shortly before her death, when ill health, successive falls, and cataracts hindered her ability to write. She was much loved.
Goudge was awarded the Carnegie Medal for The Little White Horse (1946), the book which J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter stories, has said was her favorite as a child. The television mini-series Moonacre was based on The Little White Horse. Her Green Dolphin Country (1944) was made into a film (under its American title, Green Dolphin Street) which won the Academy Award for Special Effects in 1948.
A Diary of Prayer (1966) was one of Goudge's last works. She spent her last years in her cottage on Peppard Common, just outside Henley-on-Thames, where a blue plaque was unveiled in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
October 24, 2015
Ranulph is one of the survivors of a shipwreck, rescued by the inhabitants of one of the Islands off the coast of France and England. He is invited by Rachell Du Frocq to spend his recovery time at their farm. Why would Rachell invite a complete stranger into her busy life? after all she has a husband, five children, a servant and a farm to manage. This part of the story is one example of the 'magic' Goudge weaves into her novels. In Rachell's case, she has had a 'seeing' -- what we today might call a premonition -- that this stranger is going to be instrumental in saving her farm, home and family life. Just one of the 'mysteries' in this novel, but somehow Goudge makes it work.
This was her first novel, and I have to confess the first time I tried to read it, I put it aside. This time, the second time around, this book has really caught me up into the setting, the personalities and the story itself. I read this book slowly so as to savor the wonderful language and play on description and characterization that Goudge does so well.
Her insight into human character is unparalleled (and how does she do it, I wonder? in this novel as in her others, she once again manages to unerringly put her finger on the vulnerabilities of the human heart):
"Psychology? The study of the mind. Put more simply a psychologist employs himself by finding out where people are being fools and why."
"Does it interest you to see where people are being fools, Uncle Ranulph?"
"Enormously," said Ranulph, "I like to get human beings under the microscope. I like the feeling of Olympian detachment which it gives me, and it is a delight to find that, idiotic as I am myself, others are frequently more so."
Michelle, interested, sat up and cupped her chin in her hands. Her eyes, so dull all the morning, began to look alive again.
"Are we all idiots?" she asked.
"We are all quite, quite mad," said Ranulph solemnly, "Some of us more so and some of us less so."
Somehow E. Goudge weaves together the points of view of several of her characters into a story that makes sense, that works. Ranulph, who is tortured by the decisions of the past and despairs of ever being at peace. Andre, who seems to be failing at everything he has tried and who now stands to lose the farm of Bon Repos itself. Jacqueline (Rachell and Andre's daughter), who is 'priggish' and who desperately needs to discover that there is value not only in the material things of this world and cleverness, but in simply being the person God created one to be. Colette, whose brush with death transforms a poor servant girl. The entrancing Island village market scene on Christmas Eve. The grumpy and obstinate grandfather who sees everyone else's faults but his own (and who never hesitates to point them out). So many stories and yet the author is able to work them into a plot that comes together.
Although (naturally, being a Goudge novel), the pietism and superstition of the Island was also part of the story, it was portrayed within the hearts of the Islanders themselves among the legends and stories that had been passed down to succeeding generations. The charm of her writing is in the descriptive power of Goudge's sense of place:
"They came down the last lane on to a flat white road winding across a stretch of common, and in front of them was the sea. This side of the Island was so entirely different from the Bon Repos side that it seemed a different country. Here there were no cliffs. Stretches of sand and grass, seal holly and feathery fennel, ran level with the beach. Little low white-washed cottages edged the road, their gardens full of veronica and tamarisk trees, and low rocks of rose-pink granite ran out into a sea of an intense blue. Nowhere else round the Island was the sea quite so blue as it was at L'Autel beach. Ranulph stopped, caught his breath and stared. Until today he had been too lazy to come to L'Autel. He had forgotten its magic. He had forgotten that any sea, anywhere in the world, could be so blue. "
I was sorry to finish this book! Disappointed with the affected romanticism of her novel "The Middle Window", I was afraid to repeat the experience here, but I so enjoyed the multi-layered story within "Island Magic" that I was sad when I came to the end.
"They must not keep their father and mother and Lupin waiting, he said, and they must go early to bed in preparation for the morrow. The children, their thoughts turning to their stockings, submitted with a good grace and followed him up the gay ribbons of the streets, in and out of the old grey brooding houses that has seen so many Christmas Eves come and go, over the old cobbles that had spread themselves through the centuries beneath the feet of so great a multitude of children. Overhead the stars shone frostily brilliant in a clear sky, just as they had shone when the Island was only a great grey rock set in the hungry sea and far away in Bethlehem a Child was born."
This was her first novel, and I have to confess the first time I tried to read it, I put it aside. This time, the second time around, this book has really caught me up into the setting, the personalities and the story itself. I read this book slowly so as to savor the wonderful language and play on description and characterization that Goudge does so well.
Her insight into human character is unparalleled (and how does she do it, I wonder? in this novel as in her others, she once again manages to unerringly put her finger on the vulnerabilities of the human heart):
"Psychology? The study of the mind. Put more simply a psychologist employs himself by finding out where people are being fools and why."
"Does it interest you to see where people are being fools, Uncle Ranulph?"
"Enormously," said Ranulph, "I like to get human beings under the microscope. I like the feeling of Olympian detachment which it gives me, and it is a delight to find that, idiotic as I am myself, others are frequently more so."
Michelle, interested, sat up and cupped her chin in her hands. Her eyes, so dull all the morning, began to look alive again.
"Are we all idiots?" she asked.
"We are all quite, quite mad," said Ranulph solemnly, "Some of us more so and some of us less so."
Somehow E. Goudge weaves together the points of view of several of her characters into a story that makes sense, that works. Ranulph, who is tortured by the decisions of the past and despairs of ever being at peace. Andre, who seems to be failing at everything he has tried and who now stands to lose the farm of Bon Repos itself. Jacqueline (Rachell and Andre's daughter), who is 'priggish' and who desperately needs to discover that there is value not only in the material things of this world and cleverness, but in simply being the person God created one to be. Colette, whose brush with death transforms a poor servant girl. The entrancing Island village market scene on Christmas Eve. The grumpy and obstinate grandfather who sees everyone else's faults but his own (and who never hesitates to point them out). So many stories and yet the author is able to work them into a plot that comes together.
Although (naturally, being a Goudge novel), the pietism and superstition of the Island was also part of the story, it was portrayed within the hearts of the Islanders themselves among the legends and stories that had been passed down to succeeding generations. The charm of her writing is in the descriptive power of Goudge's sense of place:
"They came down the last lane on to a flat white road winding across a stretch of common, and in front of them was the sea. This side of the Island was so entirely different from the Bon Repos side that it seemed a different country. Here there were no cliffs. Stretches of sand and grass, seal holly and feathery fennel, ran level with the beach. Little low white-washed cottages edged the road, their gardens full of veronica and tamarisk trees, and low rocks of rose-pink granite ran out into a sea of an intense blue. Nowhere else round the Island was the sea quite so blue as it was at L'Autel beach. Ranulph stopped, caught his breath and stared. Until today he had been too lazy to come to L'Autel. He had forgotten its magic. He had forgotten that any sea, anywhere in the world, could be so blue. "
I was sorry to finish this book! Disappointed with the affected romanticism of her novel "The Middle Window", I was afraid to repeat the experience here, but I so enjoyed the multi-layered story within "Island Magic" that I was sad when I came to the end.
"They must not keep their father and mother and Lupin waiting, he said, and they must go early to bed in preparation for the morrow. The children, their thoughts turning to their stockings, submitted with a good grace and followed him up the gay ribbons of the streets, in and out of the old grey brooding houses that has seen so many Christmas Eves come and go, over the old cobbles that had spread themselves through the centuries beneath the feet of so great a multitude of children. Overhead the stars shone frostily brilliant in a clear sky, just as they had shone when the Island was only a great grey rock set in the hungry sea and far away in Bethlehem a Child was born."
February 26, 2021
I would've definitely given this book 5 stars...it was absolutely beautiful and I loved it! But I didn't appreciate some of the romance aspects of it. When I think about it...it kinda gave it a lesson and something to think about...but I still think it could've just been left out.
All the characters were amazing, I loved how they all had such different personalities, and Goudge really went into detail about each one of them. I laughed many times, Colette's just so adorable! 😂
Goudge's books are always just so beautifully written, and this one was no exception. The way she wrote the story and everything just flows together... It really disappointed me about the romantic parts, because I could just go on and on about this book! 😂
The ending really got to me...I fully expected what happened, but it was still written so sad, and it felt like I had no idea was coming.
So despite some of the parts I didn't care for, still a wonderful book that I'm sure I will read again! 😊
All the characters were amazing, I loved how they all had such different personalities, and Goudge really went into detail about each one of them. I laughed many times, Colette's just so adorable! 😂
Goudge's books are always just so beautifully written, and this one was no exception. The way she wrote the story and everything just flows together... It really disappointed me about the romantic parts, because I could just go on and on about this book! 😂
The ending really got to me...I fully expected what happened, but it was still written so sad, and it felt like I had no idea was coming.
So despite some of the parts I didn't care for, still a wonderful book that I'm sure I will read again! 😊
January 8, 2023
This was Elizabeth Goudge's first novel, and I enjoyed it a lot, but there were a few logistical things that didn't work for me. Other than that, a good story, great nature descriptions, and some wonderful characters. Bon Repos, the Du Frocq family farm, was a character in itself. The five children were very much individuals with their own separate traits and personalities, but in the end a cohesive family unit as well.
December 12, 2024
Well here’s an odd one. This is the first Goudge that I’ve read, and at the same time I didn’t like it, and I knew she was a good writer. I’ll definitely read something else by her, and give her a second chance.
I felt like the book was a bit of a mess. There was too much description and not enough story. The character that she tried to make into a Byronic hero just came across as an unlikeable arrogant a5*hole.
The author clearly loved the channel Islands, loved its people,its streets, its atmosphere and its history. This comes through in every paragraph. Unfortunately, there’s insufficient plot to back it up.
I felt like the book was a bit of a mess. There was too much description and not enough story. The character that she tried to make into a Byronic hero just came across as an unlikeable arrogant a5*hole.
The author clearly loved the channel Islands, loved its people,its streets, its atmosphere and its history. This comes through in every paragraph. Unfortunately, there’s insufficient plot to back it up.
July 30, 2023
“[Michelle] and the sunrise had met and from all union there is birth.”
I believe that every one of our experiences and encounters and meetings has the potential to impact and change and transform us. This is just one of the innumerable profound quotes from this book that made me pause and reflect on the beauty of the prose and the truth and power of Goudge’s writing—and how having read it will “birth” something new in my life.
Goudge has a unique voice—I don’t know if I’ve ever read something before that feels quite like the world she created in this book—the world of the Bon Repos farm and the du Frocq family on a wild and yet idyllic Guernsey Island. I love books that create a sensual and visceral world in which the characters live, but in Goudge’s hands Bon Repos is truly one of the living, quasi-sentient characters of the book. I love how she created Bon Repos as something sacred that the characters were so drawn and attached to.
I loved how utterly unique and individual each character was—and yet how each and every one was utterly believable. Each character is undeniably flawed and wrestling through their own journey of self-discovery, but the love and care I feel for each one is deep. Goudge was able to make me feel heartache, love, frustration, impatience, and joy for all of the characters—and sometimes within a single page! But yet the writing and character development was so completely coherent and believable, never scattered or chaotic.
I loved that Goudge’s characters make upstanding moral choices in the face of severe tests of integrity. It was such a triumph to witness them overcome challenges, temptations towards vice, and their own flawed natures with such dignity, determination, and commitment.
I loved the subtle touch of magic realism. It gave the story a charm and an almost sacred feel that really added to the enchantment and enjoyment of reading it.
I’m so thankful to have been introduced to Elizabeth Goudge’s writing! I will most definitely be seeking out more of her books!
I believe that every one of our experiences and encounters and meetings has the potential to impact and change and transform us. This is just one of the innumerable profound quotes from this book that made me pause and reflect on the beauty of the prose and the truth and power of Goudge’s writing—and how having read it will “birth” something new in my life.
Goudge has a unique voice—I don’t know if I’ve ever read something before that feels quite like the world she created in this book—the world of the Bon Repos farm and the du Frocq family on a wild and yet idyllic Guernsey Island. I love books that create a sensual and visceral world in which the characters live, but in Goudge’s hands Bon Repos is truly one of the living, quasi-sentient characters of the book. I love how she created Bon Repos as something sacred that the characters were so drawn and attached to.
I loved how utterly unique and individual each character was—and yet how each and every one was utterly believable. Each character is undeniably flawed and wrestling through their own journey of self-discovery, but the love and care I feel for each one is deep. Goudge was able to make me feel heartache, love, frustration, impatience, and joy for all of the characters—and sometimes within a single page! But yet the writing and character development was so completely coherent and believable, never scattered or chaotic.
I loved that Goudge’s characters make upstanding moral choices in the face of severe tests of integrity. It was such a triumph to witness them overcome challenges, temptations towards vice, and their own flawed natures with such dignity, determination, and commitment.
I loved the subtle touch of magic realism. It gave the story a charm and an almost sacred feel that really added to the enchantment and enjoyment of reading it.
I’m so thankful to have been introduced to Elizabeth Goudge’s writing! I will most definitely be seeking out more of her books!
April 5, 2019
This was Elizabeth Goudge's first novel, and all the elements that make her work so deep, rich, and lovely are present in it. A family that isn't perfect but learn many things throughout the course of the novel and come together strongly bonded in the end. Characters who are each equally wonderfully developed and explored so that we readers get to know and understand all of them. A home that is a character in its own right. A gorgeous setting described in poetic detail. A blending of reality and fantasy, even if it's only in the characters' minds. Symbolism. A throbbing undercurrent of spiritual truths, revealed slowly and potently as the chapters unfold. Island Magic was perhaps not as deep in all these elements as Goudge's later works, but they are breathtaking all the same.
The du Frocq family were all such interesting individuals with dreams and arcs of character: Andre, Rachell, Michelle, Peronelle, Jacqueline, Colin, and Collette. I was intrigued by how Ranulph Mabier related to them and helped them, and by the end I cared about him greatly, too. I felt the appropriate pity and loathing for their grandpapa. Their home and farm, Bon Repos, on the Island was a splendid personality. And of course, so was the ever-present sky and sea.
The du Frocq family were all such interesting individuals with dreams and arcs of character: Andre, Rachell, Michelle, Peronelle, Jacqueline, Colin, and Collette. I was intrigued by how Ranulph Mabier related to them and helped them, and by the end I cared about him greatly, too. I felt the appropriate pity and loathing for their grandpapa. Their home and farm, Bon Repos, on the Island was a splendid personality. And of course, so was the ever-present sky and sea.
September 19, 2021
4-4.5🌟 I moved this book to my top 5 favorite Elizabeth Goudge books - it was very good! Even though I'm not a huge fan of stories that take place near water or on the sea, I did really enjoy this book. The characters (especially the children) were all so interesting, personable (in one way or another) and sympathetic. My favorite character was Colette - adorable, sweet and just plain lovable.
Though I used up many book darts marking beautiful passages in this book, the Christmas part was my absolute favorite. The descriptions of the home, feelings, foods, and atmosphere just made me so happy.
I will definitely read this book again. I'm sure I'll find even more characters and scenes that I love. The little bit of magic sprinkled throughout the story was just perfect.
Though I used up many book darts marking beautiful passages in this book, the Christmas part was my absolute favorite. The descriptions of the home, feelings, foods, and atmosphere just made me so happy.
I will definitely read this book again. I'm sure I'll find even more characters and scenes that I love. The little bit of magic sprinkled throughout the story was just perfect.
August 23, 2019
A generous extra star due to the delightful nostalgia of reading this on a holiday to Guernsey surrounded by wonderful family memories and that magical island air.
I loved the home and the family Goudge created in this book, relieved that the characters were less introspective and unbelievably intuitive than in some of her later books. A pleasant and unchallenging read.
I loved the home and the family Goudge created in this book, relieved that the characters were less introspective and unbelievably intuitive than in some of her later books. A pleasant and unchallenging read.
February 24, 2023
I think the brilliance of this book is all about seeing the characters of each of the children as unique individuals, little sinners like the rest of us, and how their interactions with each other and life make for a beautiful picture. Sure, there are shadows in it, but that's what gives a picture depth and dimension.
I wanted to smack people, shake people, and reassure others. I loved that good, loving people made stupid, ridiculous mistakes that didn't destroy them or their lives. I love the picture of forgiveness on many angles.
It's not my favorite Goudge, but I learned a lot from it and that's one of the beauties OF Goudge, isn't it?
I wanted to smack people, shake people, and reassure others. I loved that good, loving people made stupid, ridiculous mistakes that didn't destroy them or their lives. I love the picture of forgiveness on many angles.
It's not my favorite Goudge, but I learned a lot from it and that's one of the beauties OF Goudge, isn't it?
Read
June 17, 2025Not my favorite Goudge story.
January 5, 2015
Rachell and André are the proud parents of five high-spirited children. Their lives, though, are not peaches and cream. The year is 1888 and they live on a run-down farm in the town of St. Pierre, on one of the Channel Islands (between England and the coast of Normandy). Their sixteen year marriage has been tried by fire as they’ve buried three babies and used up all of Rachell’s inheritance to keep the farm going.
When a shipwrecked man is brought to the island, Rachell immediately takes him in, sensing that somehow he’ll be the solution to their problems. The man, Ranulph, has spent his whole life refusing to be tied down to anyone or any place yet he finds the du Frocq family hard to resist. As the story unfolds he finds healing for some of his past hurts and contributes to the welfare of the family in various ways. Goudge throws in a few twists and surprises for good measure.
As always, Goudge succeeds in writing a beautiful story while weaving in themes of mortality, committed love, and the freedom of “tying oneself down” to duty and to family.
"Goudge Magic!"
When a shipwrecked man is brought to the island, Rachell immediately takes him in, sensing that somehow he’ll be the solution to their problems. The man, Ranulph, has spent his whole life refusing to be tied down to anyone or any place yet he finds the du Frocq family hard to resist. As the story unfolds he finds healing for some of his past hurts and contributes to the welfare of the family in various ways. Goudge throws in a few twists and surprises for good measure.
As always, Goudge succeeds in writing a beautiful story while weaving in themes of mortality, committed love, and the freedom of “tying oneself down” to duty and to family.
"Goudge Magic!"
August 12, 2015
The rather lurid cover art and copy on the mass market paperback copy made me hesitate, but I'm glad I added it to my stack to purchase in a used bookshop. This is the second book by Elizabeth Goudge I've read. A friend sent Green Dolphin Street to me last year and I was simply enchanted by that story. This one wasn't as good, but it was still delightful. I love her interesting characters and her vivid, lush descriptions. Perhaps a bit old-fashioned, but lovely to immerse yourself in. The written equivalent of a cup of tea on a rainy day. Looking forward to reading more of Goudge.
January 25, 2018
Her first book and I think you can tell. It’s has all the ingredients of what makes her books so lovely but she hasn’t quite mastered the art yet... worth reading because it’s Goudge but not quite as gripping as her others... says the critic who has never written anything worth publishing..
August 31, 2024
I dare say this might be my favorite @elizabethgoudgebookclub selection so far. It’s been such a wonderful year diving into Goudge with Julie’s guidance and knowledge!
This book, Goudge’s first, gives us all the lovely Du Froq children! Elizabeth Goudge excels at character description, and each child helps us to see something in ourselves.
This is a story about longing for freedom, and what freedom really means. It is also a story about beauty - and finding beauty everywhere you are. Goudge always gives beautiful descriptions of her settings, and this book is no different. Set in Guernsey, it makes me want to plan a trip to visit!
I also love Goudge’s sense of humor, and her incorporation of traditions and superstitions from the Island. Everything she does ultimately points to God in a beautiful way - I don’t know that I’ve read another author that accomplishes this in such a lovely way.
Read this one - I think it might become a favorite!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book, Goudge’s first, gives us all the lovely Du Froq children! Elizabeth Goudge excels at character description, and each child helps us to see something in ourselves.
This is a story about longing for freedom, and what freedom really means. It is also a story about beauty - and finding beauty everywhere you are. Goudge always gives beautiful descriptions of her settings, and this book is no different. Set in Guernsey, it makes me want to plan a trip to visit!
I also love Goudge’s sense of humor, and her incorporation of traditions and superstitions from the Island. Everything she does ultimately points to God in a beautiful way - I don’t know that I’ve read another author that accomplishes this in such a lovely way.
Read this one - I think it might become a favorite!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
December 28, 2022
Oh how I wanted to love this book as I adore Elizabeth Goudge! This was her first novel, and though there were parts I loved, many thoughtful quotes, and that special Goudge writing style, it just became boring towards the middle and end. I think if you like Goudge, you won’t regret reading this one, however, if you’re new to her, you might want to start with a different novel. My first was “The Scent of Water” and I loved it!
September 17, 2021
I love books set on Guernsey! Thankfully there are a good handful of them, odd considering what a tiny island it is. This is the story of a family that lives on the island. Goudge may be a little dated in some ways, but I continue to love her heartwarming stories.
May 26, 2023
Re-reading old favourites which is nice. Elizabeth Goudge is such a good writer, her descriptions are wonderful - makes you think you are there and can see it for real. The characters in thus book are so well drawn and the story is tender and easy to read, although she doesn’t shy away from difficult things and the harsh side of life.
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March 20, 2021The 2nd book by Elizabeth Goudge that I have read this year. Again, the great ability to describe a child, an adult, and any number of situations. Here is family life in finest detail.
July 14, 2023
3,5 stars rounded up to 4.
August 10, 2016
The setting is St. Pierre, the capital of Guernsey, a channel island between England and France. Island Magic quenches two of my current fascinations: island culture and late 19th century rural life. André and Rachell du Frocq, with their five children, are barely eeking out a living on a farm called Bon Repos (“Good Rest” or, as I like to translate it, “Sweet Tranquility”), a place that comes with a benediction written on stone outside the farmhouse:
Harbour and good rest to those who enter here,
courage to those who go forth.
Let those who go and those who stay forget not God.
The story is sad and yet not without hope. The children have individual minor tragedies, they also have the confidence and security of being part of a bustling family. The tension resides between husband and wife as they begin to think about conceding failure at farming. The stranger’s assistance is helping the bottom line, but brings more marital conflict.
Typical of Goudge, there is a fairy element in the story. Themes of faith, bitterness, the value of beauty, hard work, service, gratitude, grief and sacrifice make the story shimmer. One point of the plot beggars belief. Of course I can’t identify it without giving away part of the story.
Rarely—and happily— I come across a sentence, with which I can fully relate, and about something I’ve never before seen in literature. Island Magic delivered! This is used to be me!!
How thankful she was for her one great gift—the gift of making her nose bleed at will.
Goudge’s mother was a native of Guernsey; summer visits to the grandparents were part of Goudge’s childhood. Her final thoughts on island living in this book are a bit idealistic, but they reflect some of the necessities of interpersonal relationships in a closed society.
You can’t be an individualist on our Island. There’s so much magic packed into so small a space. With the sea flung round us and holding us so tightly we are all thrown into each other’s arms—souls and seasons and birds and flowers and running water. People understand unity who live on an island. And peace. Unity is such peace.
Harbour and good rest to those who enter here,
courage to those who go forth.
Let those who go and those who stay forget not God.
The story is sad and yet not without hope. The children have individual minor tragedies, they also have the confidence and security of being part of a bustling family. The tension resides between husband and wife as they begin to think about conceding failure at farming. The stranger’s assistance is helping the bottom line, but brings more marital conflict.
Typical of Goudge, there is a fairy element in the story. Themes of faith, bitterness, the value of beauty, hard work, service, gratitude, grief and sacrifice make the story shimmer. One point of the plot beggars belief. Of course I can’t identify it without giving away part of the story.
Rarely—and happily— I come across a sentence, with which I can fully relate, and about something I’ve never before seen in literature. Island Magic delivered! This is used to be me!!
How thankful she was for her one great gift—the gift of making her nose bleed at will.
Goudge’s mother was a native of Guernsey; summer visits to the grandparents were part of Goudge’s childhood. Her final thoughts on island living in this book are a bit idealistic, but they reflect some of the necessities of interpersonal relationships in a closed society.
You can’t be an individualist on our Island. There’s so much magic packed into so small a space. With the sea flung round us and holding us so tightly we are all thrown into each other’s arms—souls and seasons and birds and flowers and running water. People understand unity who live on an island. And peace. Unity is such peace.
February 11, 2020
A beautiful and profound story, entwining the natural wonders of Guernsey with the intricacies and labyrinths of family relationships and the troubles of hearts and minds searching for their place in the world. Just as in real life, every character in this story is flawed, a mix of selflessness and selfishness - some more one than the other - making it hard not to be drawn to them in some way, even those that are the most unlovable.
Elizabeth Goudge’s descriptions of the Guernsey landscape in all its seasons are incredibly detailed and evocative. If you have ever been to this beautiful island, they will bring to life many remembered sight and scenes, and if not, will still create delightful pictures in your mind. For me, these descriptions were often reminiscent of L M Montgomery and passages in the Anne books, not simply describing the physical aspects of nature but also the emotional and spiritual.
I enjoyed reading this book through the heat of an Australian summer, but feel it would be even more powerful if accompanied by the winds and storms of winter. Either way, you are sure not to be disappointed with Island Magic.
Elizabeth Goudge’s descriptions of the Guernsey landscape in all its seasons are incredibly detailed and evocative. If you have ever been to this beautiful island, they will bring to life many remembered sight and scenes, and if not, will still create delightful pictures in your mind. For me, these descriptions were often reminiscent of L M Montgomery and passages in the Anne books, not simply describing the physical aspects of nature but also the emotional and spiritual.
I enjoyed reading this book through the heat of an Australian summer, but feel it would be even more powerful if accompanied by the winds and storms of winter. Either way, you are sure not to be disappointed with Island Magic.
June 20, 2021
This was the very first novel that Elizabeth Goudge ever wrote, and it shows. The seeds of greatness were already there, but the characters were not quite as vivid as they would become in later novels; the mysticism was not nearly as vivid; there was something a little lacking about the whole book. It's still wonderful, but I don't think it can hold a candle to Green Dolphin Street and The Child From the Sea.
August 4, 2010
Her first book. Not as good as some of her later ones, but still quite spiffy. And it’s Elizabeth Goudge, which makes me happy. And the du Frocq family is absolutely charming. (September 2007)
September 15, 2015
Now Guernsey is at the top of my travel list!
August 1, 2018
Miss Goudge was a painter of stories and her medium was words. With no other author am I able to "see" scenes so vividly.
May 25, 2022
Strength. Resurrection. Desire. Cages. Where these things collide, you cannot help but have a story. Engaging characters who express themselves with clarity that allows the reader to relate to each of them must wrestle through their place in life toward what they want in life--for this is not always the same. Recommended for lovers of Hallmark movies, books like Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and Jane Eyre.
Andre and Rachell love their farm, even though they also hate it. Through their struggles, they have become one in ways that would not have been possible without the pain. When the spirit they created there is threatened, Rachell seeks any sort of desperate solution--even taking in a shipwrecked stranger about whom she had a "seeing." This stranger somehow sets things to rights, while also creating new complications--primarily concerning the heart. His desires must stay in check, or he will ruin the fragile balance that exists to keep the farm flourishing with his presence.
In setting other people free, the stranger cages himself after years of wildness away from the island. The family, the children, the farm, the Island itself all bind him to themselves, refusing to let him leave. His internal struggle toward loving this imprisonment is genuinely portrayed, making the sacrifices he makes the more meaningful. By returning to the Island, resurrecting his old connections he brings out strength in each of the du Froqs that they did not know they had, resurrecting desires that had long lain buried under practicality.
Beautiful, heartwarming, real, and insightful, this would appeal to a wide range of historical fiction readers.
Andre and Rachell love their farm, even though they also hate it. Through their struggles, they have become one in ways that would not have been possible without the pain. When the spirit they created there is threatened, Rachell seeks any sort of desperate solution--even taking in a shipwrecked stranger about whom she had a "seeing." This stranger somehow sets things to rights, while also creating new complications--primarily concerning the heart. His desires must stay in check, or he will ruin the fragile balance that exists to keep the farm flourishing with his presence.
In setting other people free, the stranger cages himself after years of wildness away from the island. The family, the children, the farm, the Island itself all bind him to themselves, refusing to let him leave. His internal struggle toward loving this imprisonment is genuinely portrayed, making the sacrifices he makes the more meaningful. By returning to the Island, resurrecting his old connections he brings out strength in each of the du Froqs that they did not know they had, resurrecting desires that had long lain buried under practicality.
Beautiful, heartwarming, real, and insightful, this would appeal to a wide range of historical fiction readers.
April 29, 2023
I found this book disappointing, but only because I had high expectations after reading At the Scent of Water. And upon finding that this is Goudge's first book, I am willing to give her some grace, so she gets 3 stars. Just FYI, though, all the blurbs about what this book is about are kind of off, trying to create drama where there isn't, in fact, all *that* much drama.
The pros: Absolutely gorgeous descriptions of natural beauty, really excellent characterization of the children especially, some laugh out loud moments, and some descriptions of encountering the transcendent and sublime that I found very moving. And I appreciate, also, a book about a (mostly functional) marriage instead of a book about falling in love. That is valuable in its rarity. There is also a good, worked-out theology of work and suffering which I find fascinating to see in a book marketed as 'romance.'
The cons: light on plot and light on tension; it felt like the book got carried away with the island as a character (which I found to be hooey, for the most part) and the lives of the children, so it ends up feeling episodic and disjointed and underdeveloped in some places. Goudge could have kept all the bits about the children and the island and ALSO really tackled the inner workings of the adults' relationships and ended up with something better, I think. And the sort of Christianity espoused sort of seems to be lumped in with fairy tales and a sort of animism, which I appreciated less.
And the ending!
The pros: Absolutely gorgeous descriptions of natural beauty, really excellent characterization of the children especially, some laugh out loud moments, and some descriptions of encountering the transcendent and sublime that I found very moving. And I appreciate, also, a book about a (mostly functional) marriage instead of a book about falling in love. That is valuable in its rarity. There is also a good, worked-out theology of work and suffering which I find fascinating to see in a book marketed as 'romance.'
The cons: light on plot and light on tension; it felt like the book got carried away with the island as a character (which I found to be hooey, for the most part) and the lives of the children, so it ends up feeling episodic and disjointed and underdeveloped in some places. Goudge could have kept all the bits about the children and the island and ALSO really tackled the inner workings of the adults' relationships and ended up with something better, I think. And the sort of Christianity espoused sort of seems to be lumped in with fairy tales and a sort of animism, which I appreciated less.
And the ending!
January 30, 2023
I really had to think about the rating. While I enjoyed the setting of the windy Channel Islands and the nature writing, I found that it could be protracted to a fault. Ships which can be thrown into the rocks lend to the atmosphere of chaos similar to the failing farm and family.
The children are all vastly different but strangely caricatured. Michelle is passionate and philosophical to an extreme, and Jacqueline is a fatalist, always believing she’s dying.
The mother, Rachell, believes her sudden intuition to bring home a wrecked rescued sailor, called Ranulph, who turns out to be her husband’s brother, Jean. We never really learn a exactly why he left the island and what adventures he experienced, and why he was sailing back again. I thought that the final insinuation of Ranulph as Jesus dying for the family was hyperbolic. Sometimes the over dramatic can come off as silly, and I think that happened here.
The children are all vastly different but strangely caricatured. Michelle is passionate and philosophical to an extreme, and Jacqueline is a fatalist, always believing she’s dying.
The mother, Rachell, believes her sudden intuition to bring home a wrecked rescued sailor, called Ranulph, who turns out to be her husband’s brother, Jean. We never really learn a exactly why he left the island and what adventures he experienced, and why he was sailing back again. I thought that the final insinuation of Ranulph as Jesus dying for the family was hyperbolic. Sometimes the over dramatic can come off as silly, and I think that happened here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2020
Set in Guernsey in the late 19th c., the book follows a year in the life of a family on a local farm. Following a shipwreck, they take in a stranger (I won't go into spoilers but the stranger isn't really a stranger) who easily adjusts to the five kids and the strange island life.
It's a book both my mom and grandma had on their shelves and I've read it more than once, but I'd forgotten how truly magical it is. It's a bit like a grown up version of LM Montgomery's Anne series or a (mostly) brighter Du Maurier, but where the veil between reality and magic is very thin. The Channel island appears as a magical, wonderful place, where the kids each develop their own inner world and personalities. There are visions, old timey pagan beliefs in fairies and other superstitions, and it's all over beautifully at,ospjeric.
It's a book both my mom and grandma had on their shelves and I've read it more than once, but I'd forgotten how truly magical it is. It's a bit like a grown up version of LM Montgomery's Anne series or a (mostly) brighter Du Maurier, but where the veil between reality and magic is very thin. The Channel island appears as a magical, wonderful place, where the kids each develop their own inner world and personalities. There are visions, old timey pagan beliefs in fairies and other superstitions, and it's all over beautifully at,ospjeric.
October 3, 2022
Really a 3.5 stars. . . It was lovely and uplifting because it's Elizabeth Goudge. But it's not my favorite of hers. I love the characters, especially Rachell, Peronelle, and Collette, but Ranulph is not quite developed enough to become the Sidney Carton of the ending. I guess Dickens has spoiled me, and I need about 100 more pages of Ranulph for him to really reach redemption. The grandpapa goes too far in his abusiveness. Would they really still have such a close relationship as to have weekly dinner with him?? Also, I really don't believe Rachell would have succumbed so much to her attraction in the moment -- her character is too decisive and strong. But I love Jacqueline's time with the nuns and her confession. I love Collette's adoption of Toinette. And just to have more Goudge to read is always a joy to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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