'Henrietta's House' by Elizabeth Goudge

Back to beloved cathedral town of Torminster in the early years of this century.

One golden afternoon, Henrietta Ferranti, along with her family and friends, sets out for young Hugh Anthony's birthday party, and he's going to celebrate with the people he loves best, young and old alike. The day begins with a wish and ends with a revelation after a magical mystery tour. A procession of landaus and victorias, plus one motor car, are bound for the Blue Hills and Hugh's picnic. Whatever the reason, each of the horses and ponies carrying them mysteriously lost on its way to the Blue Hills.

As each of the partygoers ventures into an enchanted forest where legend becomes reality and their wildest dreams come true, and by the time the travelers meet again over tea and iced birthday cake, they have had such adventures. Adventures such that none of them is the same person. They are wiser, nicer and much happier. The innocent birthday picnic becomes the adventure of a lifetime and no one will ever be the same again.

MY THOUGHTS:

 After reading the first in the Torminster series, A City of Bells, I wanted to get hold of this sequel. Sourcing it turned out to be easier than I expected. There was a free Internet Archive copy which I borrowed a couple of times. 

Henrietta's House re-introduces several main characters from A City of Bells in this yarn that's saturated with magical realism, then blended with High Church cathedral lore, and a pinch of pagan mysticism in a true Goudgian cocktail.  

Young Hugh Anthony has requested an excursion to Foxglove Combe for a picnic on his birthday. So several archaic, mostly horse-drawn vehicles trundle off from Torminster, and most of them are eerily seduced off course to a strange gatehouse where there are statues of a cowardly, craven child and a mocking imp. (We learn that they represent the cringing human soul in the face of the mockery of Providence.) 

From there, several separate adventures await each carriage load.

Twelve-year-old Hugh Anthony and the pompous old Dean are an unlikely pair, united by their mutual satisfaction at belonging to the Ruling Class and Dominant Sex. These two suffer a few scary come-downs in a network of underground caves. 

Meanwhile, Henrietta and eccentric old Mrs Jameson stumble upon Henrietta's dream house, furnished exactly as she imagined it. Henrietta's plot thread includes her fondness of the domestic lifestyle, pairing magic together with housework in her eyes. There turns out to be a natural explanation for the existence of Henrietta's dream abode, but it still has a hint of the paranormal.

Grandfather and Bates befriend a bitter old man at the weird gatehouse who indulges in the black arts, making voodoo dolls which he pricks with pins. 

Amusingly, only Grandmother's party avoids being magically misdirected, because she's so chock full of common-sense and bossiness, no supernatural sleight of hand could possibly get the better of her. 

Jocelyn and Felicity come to grief in their spiffy new motor car. It's state of the art for them, but strikes the modern reader as an antique rattletrap. They crank it up at the front to start, and even wear full motor outfits similar to Toad's in The Wind in the Willows. And when Jocelyn steers it through the main street, he's terrified of running somebody over. Since drivers' licences were a thing of the future, it was a valid fear. Of course while Jocelyn and Felicity show off their pride and joy, the oldies deplore the noise, smell and speed. Grandfather hates to offend the young couple but secretly laments that peace and quiet will soon be a thing of the past. 

It's worth noting that even though they are now married, Felicity still works as a stage performer in the city. That's commendably liberal for the early twentieth century, but I guess she's the major bread-winner. It seems Jocelyn's bookshop is still more of a passion project, so perhaps sadly times haven't changed much in some ways. He's said to have a wise and owlish look as a result of reading his merchandise all day. Hopefully the same thing applies to today's book bloggers. 

This is a strangely compelling read, like many of Goudge's stories. 

It's also worth mentioning Henrietta's Top Twenty books she'd recommend for fellow kids. I'm always up for ticking off yet another new reading list. Some of these I'd never heard of, but they were evidently popular in their era. 

1) The Water Babies

2) Alice in Wonderland

3) Undine

4) The Pilgrim's Progress

5) Jackanapes

6) Little Women

7) The Fairchild Family

8) A Flat Iron for a Farthing

9) The Back of the North Wind

10) The Princess and the Curdie

11) Uncle Remus

12) Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales

13) The Swiss Family Robinson

14) Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book

15) Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

16) Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book

17) Mary's Meadow

18) Lob-Lie-By-The-Fire

19) Treasure Island

20) The Cocky-Olly Bird

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