Ian Handford: From Jane Austen to Marldon – A Devon literary lineage

In this series of features Ian l Handford (President of Torbay Civic Society) looks at famous individuals who lived in Torbay in the 20th century.

Elizabeth Goudge (Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge) - Part Two of Two. Part one can be read HERE.

Living at her cottage in Dog Lane, Henley, Elizabeth did only one interview about herself saying: “There are not many excitements in my books as I have had too sheltered a life to know much about wickedness. I prefer writing about children and dogs and ordinary men and women in surroundings of natural beauty.

"My work also appeals to the old and the young and to those who are ill or sick as even they tell me my books help them forget their aches and pains”.

Her novel, Smoky House, which relates to a fairy tale on smuggling and adventure, is said to be a “cosy story about morality”. Then came The Valley of Song, dealing with Elizabeth’s vision of heaven before she wrote about Devon and a war novel, The Castle on the Hill, inspired by Berry Pomeroy Castle near Marldon on the back road to Totnes. 

Then came Sister of Angels, a highly sentimental novel portraying an artist’s dedication to the task in hand including flashes of humour. 

Most of her books for children were written early in her career although there was one exception, Linnetts and Valerians, which was published in 1964, being a complex mix of heroes, villains and eccentrics and a one legged sailor - Ezra Oake.  Later it was reported that Ezra was one of her finest  “creations”.      

Elizabeth expresses often how she believes “life was meant to be lived” and in her later years draws widely on that thought, adding knowledge of spiritual matters. 

The final book she wrote at Marldon was a biography entitled God so loved the World, the story of Jesus Christ, before finally she penned My God and My All, another biography associated with religion concerning St Francis of Assisi of Italy. 

By now she was a hugely popular writer and enjoyed a massive postbag from mostly the elderly or ill people - but certainly grateful readers which meant more to her than any financial gain or worldly fame.

Having been elected to the FRSI following her children’s book, The Little White Horse, which had won her the Carnegie Medal in 1950, by now, in 1963, The Scent of Water had increased the rapport between author and readership, as we know from the extra mailbags coming home which “became just astonishing”. 

The Scent of Water related to an inherent charity and Elizabeth’s strong support for Anglicanism, which seemed to touch a nerve for  new readers. 

She also expresses her personal beliefs in the love of God which brought more new readers and personal followers. Her religious work, the love of all country matters and sense of place saw some believing her work - “legendary”. 

Her autobiography, The Joy of the Snow, published in 1974, reveals the strength of her family’s Christian conviction. Her parents had particularly strong religious and spiritual values and many see her stories rooted in reality but combined with fantasy adventure. 

Her writing was often magical, which merely heightened the interest, though her novel, Henrietta’s House, was an exception. It gives pride of place to a “rollicking group of entertaining elderly clergymen” who all manage to retain their deep religious vows.

Having published over 40 books, it was said that The Little White Horse, though lengthy and complicated, was about jealousy, sexual passion and loneliness - yet was one of her best stories. A famous writer Alasdair K Campbell said of this book:  “Miss Goudge’s reputation could stand on this book alone.”

She certainly left us many dozens of short stories, poems, novels and children’s books etc, while her non-fiction work, with few exceptions, always deals with an aspect of religion. 

She chose to write of things she saw as moral and of good report and many of her followers believed she drew upon the thoughts of another novelist, Miss Jane Austin no less. 

Jane’s father was a rector while her mother was a daughter of the Rev Leigh. Maybe this goes some way to explain why religion played an important part in these women’s writing.

Elizabeth, like Jane, never married and she died in her cottage in Dog Lane on April 1, 1984, after spending many years reclaiming her wild garden to create a country garden.

Death claimed her three weeks before her 84th birthday in an era where many of her books were reprinted ten or more times and yet she left only £308,000.