“The little fishing boat rounded the buoy and came in sight of the Island.”

Lory at Emerald City Book Review hosted an Elizabeth Goudge Reading Week from April 24-30th and for the event, I chose to read Goudge’s first book, Island Magic. Goudge is an author that pops up here and there on different blogs and based on the reviews I’d read, I was looking forward to an enjoyable read.

It is the year 1888, and Andre du Frocq lives with his wife Rachel and their five children in the town of St. Pierre in the Channel Islands.  Their life is hard as they eke out a living on Bon Repos, the family farm, yet the love they hold for each other and the struggles they face knit them together against the odds.  However, in spite of their courage, the farm is failing and the family must find a way to survive or abandon the only life they have known.

A ship is wrecked on the treacherous rocks of La Catian Roque, and a dishevelled stranger is brought into their midst.  Will his appearance be the saviour of Bon Repos and the du Frocq’s, or will his presence be the catalyst that tears the family apart?

photo courtesy of Neil Howard Creative Commons

Goudge’s detailed and poetic descriptions paint a story with vibrant life.  Not only does the reader become intimately familiar with the du Frocq family, their house, Bon Repos, and the village of St. Pierre become almost like characters themselves and you are left with a feeling of fellowship with not only those who live within the book’s pages but with the setting itself.  I’m firmly convinced that if I had the good fortune to visit the Channel Islands, I would be looking for the du Frocq’s and all the places they frequented without a second thought!

photo courtesy of Neil Howard Creative Commons

Gouge has masterfully crafted a book that on the surface appears like light fiction, yet the deep psychological insight, the innate knowledge of human nature, and the paradoxes of life that Goudge explores, makes it much more than a common contemporary novel; instead it is a unique and unparalleled visit into the past which allows you to inhabit a world that is both new, yet familiar, and experience the human struggles and joys which are universal to all.

photo courtesy of Neil Howard Creative Commons

For anyone wanting to find out more about Elizabeth Goudge, please check out The Bookwyrm’s Hoard biography post, which contains some excellent information.