The Little White Horse Explained

The Little White Horse
Author:Elizabeth Goudge
Illustrator:C. Walter Hodges
Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1992)
Cover Artist:C. Walter Hodges
Anne Yvonne Gilbert (1992)
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English
Genre:Children's Fairytale
Publisher:University of London Press
Pub Date:June 1946
Media Type:Print (hardcover)
Pages:286 pp (first edition)
Oclc:12658611
Congress:PZ7.G71 Li[1]

The Little White Horse is a low fantasy children's novel by Elizabeth Goudge, first published by the University of London Press in 1946 with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges, and Anne Yvonne Gilbert in 1992. Coward–McCann published a US edition next year.[1] Set in 1842, it features a recently orphaned teenage girl who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. The estate, village, and vicinity are shrouded in mystery and magic; the "little white horse" is a unicorn.

Goudge won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognizing the year's best children's book by a British subject. It has been adapted for film and television.

WorldCat Participating libraries report holding editions in 11 translation languages.[2]

Plot summary

Maria Merryweather became an orphan at age 13 on her father's death in 1842. She is sent to Moonacre Manor in England's West Country, accompanied by her governess Miss Heliotrope, and her dog Wiggins. There she finds herself in a world out of time. Her cousin and guardian Sir Benjamin Merryweather is one of the "sun" Merryweathers, and she loves him right away, as "sun" and "moon" Merryweathers do. Maria discovers that there is an ancient mystery about the founding of the estate.

Wonderful people and magical beasts aid her, but it is by self-sacrifice and perseverance, too, that Maria can save Moonacre, right the wrongs, reunite lost loves, and finally bring peace to the valley.

Characters

The animals

Adaptations

The 1994 television mini-series Moonacre was loosely based on The Little White Horse.[3]

In 2008, the book was very loosely adapted into the film The Secret of Moonacre, written by Lucy Shuttleworth and Graham Alborough and directed by Gabor Csupo. Starring Dakota Blue Richards as Maria,[4] the movie was mostly shot in Hungary and released in February 2009

J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, mentioned that The Little White Horse was her favourite childhood book.[5]

References

Citations

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://lccn.loc.gov/47018596 "The little white horse"
  2. http://www.worldcat.org/title/little-white-horse/oclc/1376566/editions?start_edition=61&sd=asc&se=yr&referer=di&editionsView=true&fq= "Formats and Editions of The little white horse"
  3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305072/ Moonacre
  4. Web site: Richards Returns in Moonacre. 5 December 2007. 3 December 2007. SciFi Wire . https://web.archive.org/web/20080203093713/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=45952 . 3 February 2008.
  5. http://issuu.com/wordswithjam/docs/wwj_june2011_pages?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed "Tea and Cake with J. K. Rowling"