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Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽'s Reviews > Green Dolphin Street
Green Dolphin Street
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Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽'s review
bookshelves: wallowing-in-misery-and-angst, victorian, whatever, dated-social-attitudes
Feb 26, 2020
bookshelves: wallowing-in-misery-and-angst, victorian, whatever, dated-social-attitudes
I read Green Dolphin Street as a group read with the Retro Reads crowd. I had such high hopes because I've loved the other two historical fiction novels I read by Elizabeth Goudge, but this one landed with kind of a thud.
Marianne and Marguerite are two sisters, daughters of a wealthy merchant, who live on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Marianne, who is five years older than Marguerite, is intelligent but mercurial, and not as conventionally lovely or as well-behaved as her younger sister. They both fall in love with William, who's not in their social class but is a compelling personality. They all hang out together as they grow up but, predictably, it's Marguerite that William falls in love with.
William leaves Guernsey to go to New Zealand to seek his fortune, planning to bring Marguerite there once he's settled and doing well. But he's drunk the night he writes the fateful proposal letter, and accidentally mixes up the sisters' names and asks Marianne to come to NZ to marry him. (The author claimed this part was based on a factual story.) Marianne is elated; Marguerite deeply dejected. And William, when he sees which sister shows up on the boat months later, doesn't know how to undo his mistake. This is back in Victorian days, when you just didn't do that kind of thing.
Green Dolphin Street follows their lives and adventures together. There are some harrowing times with the Maori natives, and here Goudge's normally fine sensibilities let her down. It's dated and, to say the least, racially insensitive. This book was written in 1944, and if you can't make allowances for outdated social attitudes, you'll be offended.
Between that and the Drama (with a capital D) between William and the sisters, (view spoiler), this just wasn't a book I found appealing. Elizabeth Goudge was a talented author, but I'd definitely recommend The Dean's Watch or The Scent of Water over this one.
A soft 3 stars.
Marianne and Marguerite are two sisters, daughters of a wealthy merchant, who live on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Marianne, who is five years older than Marguerite, is intelligent but mercurial, and not as conventionally lovely or as well-behaved as her younger sister. They both fall in love with William, who's not in their social class but is a compelling personality. They all hang out together as they grow up but, predictably, it's Marguerite that William falls in love with.
William leaves Guernsey to go to New Zealand to seek his fortune, planning to bring Marguerite there once he's settled and doing well. But he's drunk the night he writes the fateful proposal letter, and accidentally mixes up the sisters' names and asks Marianne to come to NZ to marry him. (The author claimed this part was based on a factual story.) Marianne is elated; Marguerite deeply dejected. And William, when he sees which sister shows up on the boat months later, doesn't know how to undo his mistake. This is back in Victorian days, when you just didn't do that kind of thing.
Green Dolphin Street follows their lives and adventures together. There are some harrowing times with the Maori natives, and here Goudge's normally fine sensibilities let her down. It's dated and, to say the least, racially insensitive. This book was written in 1944, and if you can't make allowances for outdated social attitudes, you'll be offended.
Between that and the Drama (with a capital D) between William and the sisters, (view spoiler), this just wasn't a book I found appealing. Elizabeth Goudge was a talented author, but I'd definitely recommend The Dean's Watch or The Scent of Water over this one.
A soft 3 stars.
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Reading Progress
2019
–
Started Reading
2019
–
Finished Reading
May 13, 2019
– Shelved
May 13, 2019
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 26, 2020
– Shelved as:
wallowing-in-misery-and-angst
February 26, 2020
– Shelved as:
victorian
February 26, 2020
– Shelved as:
whatever
February 26, 2020
– Shelved as:
dated-social-attitudes
