Listening time: 13 minutes.  One of my top two children’s books of all time, I first read Elizabeth Goudge’s Little White Horse as a grown up.  That didn’t prevent my being enchanted and strengthened by it.  Thinking which of the WritingRedux book reviews to record next, it occurred to me that those qualities might be welcome to listeners, as we near the end of a year which has been at best straitened for many, while for others devastating. 

It may also resonate in the sense that it involves a young person stumbling across an adult-made mess, then feeling her way to a solution for all, incidentally learning a few wise things on the way. 

Enjoy the review and hope it inspires you to read the book, or at least to give it to some bright child you know.   I recommend the edition below, due to the quality of its production and the charm of the illustrations.   Feel free to visit the written version of the review, complete with choice quotations and illustrations, and including links to some recipes of tasty dishes mentioned in the book. 

Source: Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse, illus. C. Walter Hodges (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2011 (1946))