One of the many things I like about Elizabeth Goudge's books is her way with people. Yes, she's generous of heart and tends to see the best in them, but she's wise, too, in her understanding of human nature, shrewd on what moves us forward or holds us back, and so there are facets to her characters and nuances to the way they relate one to another that add a richness to her stories. She may be clear and open in spirit - although not blinkered hers is a fundamentally optimistic view of life, after all - but her essential straightforwardness when it comes to the patterns her people move through is nevertheless elegant and pleasing in its rightness and its detail.
In The Herb of Grace we pick up the story of the Eliots (first seen in the delight that is The Bird in the Tree) just after the war. The focus now is on George and Nadine and their children - the matriarch Lucilla taking a step back after some well-intentioned meddling in their affairs - and the old pilgrims' inn, The Herb of Grace, they take on. Also centre stage is Lucilla's grandson David, damaged by his wartime experiences and sick at heart. Into their lives come John Adair, renowned portrait painter of his day, and his daughter Sally. They are refreshing arrivals, Adair a blunt, brisk, bear-like man with a twinkle in his eye, Sally unselfconscious, good natured, "a curiously individual person", but both settle with ease among the Eliots and bring their particular gifts to the inn and to the family.
While there is a sub-plot which leans towards the melodramatic, the main thrust of the book is much less sensational: redemption, making good, coming into one's own - all typical Goudge tropes - and all charmingly played out, supported by the author's gentle mysticism, her eye for beauty in the natural world and the man-made, and her capacity for finding joy and taking pleasure in small things.
"Balm" was the word with which I began my notes on the book, and that's as good as any to describe the quiet power of Miss Goudge's writing. I'm glad I have many more of her novels yet to read.
Thank you so much for reminding me of this trilogy - I re-read these many times in my teens (50 years ago) and balm is absolutely the right word.
Posted by: Gill K | 04 November 2020 at 09:38 AM