The Little White Horse (1946)

This was the sort of book that is best left to the loveliness of childhood. I did enjoy the reread, but it really showed a narrative simplicity. Feels more like a kid tripping out on imagination than an actual semi-fantasy novel now.
I can see why I would have loved it when I first read it. But I really does not stand up to a adult audience. ( )

Delightful. Reminds me of the kind of second-hand happiness I had when reading the passage from The Silver Chair in which Jill spends an evening at Cair Paravel. Would quite probably have been my favourite book if I had read it at a younger age; still very pleasant, but a little too sweet, like the sugar cookies Maria is always nibbling on! ( )

"Det är många gåtor som möter den föräldralösa Maria Merryweather när hon flyttar till sin nästkusin på det stora godset Månhuset. Den lilla vita hästen hon skymtade i månskenet samma kväll hon kom är en av dem. Den jättelika hunden Wrolf är en annan - om han nu alls är en vanlig hund. Och Zackarias Katt med sin häpnadsväckande klokhet. Men djuren hör till hennes vänner, det kommer hon underfund med. Liksom Robin, pojken hon träffade i London fast ingen mer än hon kunde se honom.. Värre är det med männen i Mörka skogen. Varför kan ingen stoppa deras ondska, som varit en plåga för Silverdalens by i så många hundra år?
Så småningom faller alla pusselbitar på plats och Maria bestämmer sig för att försöka ställa saker och ting till rätta. Men det är ett farligt uppdrag hon åtar sig och det gäller att hon är modig..."

[This is a review I wrote in 2008]

**Delightful, magical little story - won the Carnegie Medal for children's literature in 1946.**

The year is 1842 and Maria Merryweather is a petite plain orphaned girl with silvery-grey eyes, straight reddish hair and a thin pale face. She has had to leave the London that she knows, selling her father's house to pay debts, and is off to live with her nearest relative at the Manor of Moonacre in the West Country, taking with her her much-loved, if stern, governess and their canine companion Wiggins.

Maria takes to her cousin Sir Benjamin Merryweather immediately, and falls in love with Moonacre with very little effort. She soon meets the friendly villagers from nearby Silverydew, is re-acquainted with an old childhood friend, Robin, and learns of an ancient story about the foundation of Moonacre which will have a great effect on her future... Soon Maria longs to be the one to restore tranquility and peace to her much-loved Moonacre Valley. Throughout it all, more than anything, Maria longs for another glimpse of the little white horse she first spotted on her arrival at Moonacre one wintry moonlit night...

This is a lovely heart-warming story of innocence, friendship, discovery, magic and ultimately good fighting evil. A pure delight. ( )

3.5 for old-fashioned charm. This book was quoted in another book I read (Where I End), so I connected the dots and tracked it down -- and wished I had encountered it in my childhood where I would have appreciated it much more. Along the lines of Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables and Dandelion Cottage where the girl heroines work within the confines of their time and place to bravely change and challenge all while having a sunny disposition and a positive impact on those around them. This is a British tale, published in 1946 but set in a more antiquated, fairy tale time. Maria Merrydew is newly orphaned and travels from London with her beloved governess Miss Heliotrope to a distant relative (Sir Benjamin) in a distant land (Silverydew). There things are magical and enchanting and rapturous and delightful with every virtue, good thing to eat, fun thing to do, and a heavy dose of good vs. evil. The family estate of Moonacre is well-managed, if somewhat shabby and a benevolent force to the town, but the nearby Pine wood and Merry Bay are besieged by Them - the villain descendants of Black William who poach and trap the innocent animals and control the fishing in the Bay and steal from the townspeople. It is an age-old feud fueled by misunderstanding and mistrust. Maria in her plucky imperious way is destined to put all to rights and restore harmony throughout the land. The family motto is "The brave soul and the pure spirit shall with a merry and a loving heart inherit the kingdom together." She is the next generation of Moon Maiden and has some magical help, as well as the support of various creatures and true love of Robin, the simple shepherd boy. There are some mini-mysteries -- the little white horse, the missing pearls, the decades old murder of Black William, but nothing is too treacherous or challenging for Maria. Needless to say, a happy ending is insured in the tradition of Shakespeare's comedies. Weddings all around. Quite saccharine, but I couldn't help but like it for the time it was written and for the little girl I was. ( )