The Heart of the Family (The Eliot Heritage, Book 3) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Goudge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993 | Series: The Eliot Heritage, Book 3

The third of Elizabeth Goudge's trilogy of novels about the Eliots of Damerosehay. David Eliot finds his career as a successful and much-acclaimed actor a definite strain, and his brittle conversation and seeming arrogance earn him the dislike of his new secretary Sebastian Weber.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

10 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Servant Pubns (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892838345
• ISBN-13: 978-0892838349
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fairy tale for adults, July 17, 2001

By 

Helen Linda Jenkins (Wales, Great britain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart Of The Family (Audio Cassette)

'The Heart of the Family' is the third in a trilogy of books about the Eliot family, who live in the ancient and atmospheric houses of Damerosehay and The Herb of Grace. They are a talented bunch, middle-class and in many ways privileged, but also suffering and making mistakes as they struggle to make sense of life and their own sufferings. Elizabeth Goudge has a highly imaginative and siritual vision of the inner meaning of life and invests ordinary events with quite intense beauty and sweetness. I have read a dismissive comment that she writes fairytales for adults. Actually, there is truth in this, because she reduces life to its deepest significance and understands that we must have myths and symbols in our imagination which help us to grasp this meaning. Her work rewards careful reading and re-reading and one can ponder some of her sentences for a long time. Some would find her work over-sentimental, but it seems to me that she has paid a high price in terms of personal search and even suffering to understand some of the things she writes about. Her writings are not in keeping with the material spirit of the age, but contain a timeless wisdom. They are also enjoyable and entertaining to read.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tough Going But Worth It, June 16, 2004

By 

Sarah Hearn (Ottawa, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart of the Family (The Eliot Heritage, Book 3) (Paperback)

I disagree with William Tegner, who has not apparently read the preceding 2 books and was therefore clearly at sea most of the time. This is a very good book, the third of the Eliot trilogy. It is not merely "more of the same" about the Eliots, but in fact is considerably denser, i.e., harder to get through, and even, dare I say it, more despairing than any other book by Goudge that I have read (and unlike Tegner, I have read many). The themes it raises are those of war, "the pity of war, the pity war distills", atomic devastation, and at the more local level, those of familial (and familiar) disappointments. Specifically, Ben, the eldest of Naomi and George's children has turned away from the career they selected for him, and has also announced that he will marry, as his parents see it, "beneath him". This is not a happy book, and it is tough going after the almost lyric poetry of the earlier two, but it is well worth the effort. It is Goudge at her most adult, her least fanciful. It is like suddenly reading prose where before it was all poetry.

5.0 out of 5 stars The thrid in a wonderful trilogy PLEASE BRING IT OUT IN KINDLE!, February 23, 2012

By 

overtakenbyanap "overtakenbyanap" (BC in Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart of the Family (The Eliot Heritage, Book 3) (Paperback)

This is the final installment of the Eliot trilogy. As the previous books "Bird in the Tree" and "The Herb of Grace" established the characters, we see them about 6 or 7 years later than the second book which was just after WW2 in England. Now they are in the early 50's era and struggling with real life issues which as per E Goudge-- isn't always a happily ever after. At least not yet. Some personal sacrifice is in order to bring about harmony within the family. It winds up the trilogy in a satisfactory way. Not everyone is happy, but it all turns out well. Flaws in each person are explored, the consequences of actions taken earlier are shown and everyone gets a chance to make things right.

Of all the books this is the least likely to read as a stand alone, as much of the action depends on decisions made in the previous two books. However it wouldn't ruin anyone's pleasure to start here, or to just read this by itself, it's just for the full experience it would be nicer to read either of the previous two.

I love this series, and eagerly await it coming out on Kindle, as I love to go back to these books again and again. When I feel a bit depressed or tired, this set never fails to set me back up to enjoying life and other people again. Highly recommended.