When William Ozanne departs the British Channel Islands for a new life in the Royal Navy, he leaves behind sisters Marianne and Marguerite Le Patourel in the clutches of love and longing. A letter to their father finds its way back, requesting William’s beloved to join him in New Zealand, and the sisters are separated. It’s not until she arrives to marry him that William realizes he has asked for … for the hand of the wrong woman.
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Is it Marianne, or Marguerite? Poor William could never remember the names of the two sisters, even though they had very different personalities. Marianne was a fiery independent woman, who would not have been out of place in the 21st century. Her gentle sister Marguerite had more old-fashioned qualities. When William had successfully made a life for himself in New Zealand, he decided to write home to St. Pierre in Guernsey, and ask for the hand of the woman he loved. The woman he loved was gentle Marguerite. But in the letter he wrote to their father, he asked for Marianne.
So Marianne set off for an unknown place, happy to be shed of provincial St. Pierre that hemmed her in. Fiery and courageous, she made a success of herself in New Zealand, taking the inevitable hardships in stride. She had no idea that she was not the bride her husband had in mind until they returned to Guernsey.
The scene where she confronts her sister Marguerite with her knowledge that she was the wrong bride is one of my favorites. One doesn’t expect nuns to be speechless with laughter, but this scene is such a luminous one, for the laughter, the love and the forgiveness.
Elizabeth Goudge (1900 -1984) is a mostly forgotten author, but at her best, she married wonderful storytelling with spiritual depth. I often wish I could write like her.
Elizabeth Goudge is maybe my favorite author of all. She writes in a way that you understand where her characters are coming from and you care about them deeply. Her books are written from an older generation but are the sweetest reads and make you want to be a better person. Just lovely!!
This is a sweeping epic of a historical fiction. It reminds me a lot of “Gone With the Wind”, but set in Australia. What I love so much about this book is that it’s one big character study. While it has some excitement and action in it, it’s mostly shows what the effect that one person’s actions have on him and two sisters.
I don’t normally put a synopsis in my reviews, but the synopsis given on Goodreads doesn’t really encapsulate the story well. The basic premise of this story is that these two sisters fall in love with the boy next door. The older sister is plain, but smart, whitty, and generally intimidating to the people around her (and has a dash of acidity to her personality). The younger is sweetness personified and beautiful, though not terribly intelligent. The hero goes off and joins the Navy, but runs into trouble during one of his shore leaves and runs off to Australia, thus branding himself as a deserter and is unable to return home. Instead, he sends for the sister he wants to marry, but when he writes the letter, he’s a little tipsy and always had a hard time remembering their names and writes down the wrong sister’s name. When the eldest sister shows up in Australia several months later, the hero realizes he’s got to make the best of a bad situation and marries her without telling her the truth. It then follows their lives as the eldest sister and the hero try to make a happy home for themselves, even though the hero doesn’t love his wife and she figures it out and the youngest sister is heartbroken over loosing the love of her life.
Like I said, this is a fabulous character study and a sweeping epic of a book. Though it’s not in print anymore, if you can get your hands on a copy, I recommend reading this.