Blue Hills [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Goudge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1976

In THE BLUE HILLS, Elizabeth Goudge takes us back to her beloved cathedral town of Torminster in the early years of this century.

It is the day of young Hugh Anthony's birthday picnic. A procession of landaus and victorias, plus one motor car, are bound for the Blue Hills and Hugh's picnic.

Whatever the reason, each vehicle gets mysteriously lost on its way to the Blue Hills, 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.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

7 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books (June 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899661009
• ISBN-13: 978-0899661001
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,513,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming, semi-allegorical story about innocence/sin/guilt., March 31, 1998

By 

Winnie Harding ([e-mail]) (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Hills (Hardcover)

The story of a young girl and other members of her small English village community, who wander into a mysterious wood, discovering beautiful secrets about themselves and their relationships with God and each other. Lyrical, intense, magical and childlike in the tradition of George MacDonald's "Curdie" books or C.S. Lewis, but a little more subtle and complex -- a great book for shy 13-year-olds or thoughtful adults.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Return to enchanting Torminster, October 27, 2003

By 

L O'connor (richmond, surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Hills (Hardcover)

This is the third of Elizabeth Goudge's books to be set in Torminster (Wells) at the turn of the last century. It features the same cast of characters as A City of Bells and Sister of the Angels, romatic, artistic Henrietta, practical, self-satisfied Hugh Anthony, saintly Grandfather and sharp Grandmother, irresponsible poet Grabriel Ferranti, gentle Jocelyn and hsi vivacious wife Felicity, the haughty Dean, eccentric Mrs Jameson whose husband was eaten by cannibals, and an assortment of elderly clergymen and their wives. Going on a birthday picnic for Hugh Anthony, the principal characters all get lost and have very strange adventures, encountering (possibly) supernatural beings and having life-changing experiences. Being a children's book, the atmosphere is much lighter than in A City of Bells, and everyone's problems are resolved rather more easily than they would otherwise have been (mrs Jmeason is cured of her sazdness over her husband's gruesome end by acquiring a music box with a singing bird),but the characters are just as lovable and interesting as they are in the other books, and there is a lot of humour, as there is in all Miss Goudge's books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice nostalgic read, August 11, 2002

By 

Rita (Freeport, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Hills (Hardcover)

I've loved Elizabeth Goudge ever since my childhood when I discovered her in worn editions in the local library. This is okay, kind of sweet and pastoral--Goudge is anti industrial revolution/automobile/modernity. She gets in her usual little digs on Protestantism and the dispossession of the monasteries by Henry VIII, but one gets used to this with her. This book is also called "Henrietta's House" in the English editions. It's a fast read, and all the characters are virtuous--what more can one ask?