#torminster

The Most Beautiful Literary Locations

…it struck him that in all the world he would be able to find no more peaceful city in which to build their home.

Why you should read Elizabeth Goudge’s Torminster books for Advent and Christmastide:

Wonderful atmospheric depiction of a small Cathedral town in the beginning of the 20th century, partly inspired by the authors own childhood; (Torminster is technically Wells, Somerset)

the first book is a very soft and gentle adult novel, about all kinds of love, redemption, and the way literature and art can bring people together;

the sequels are two children’s novellas about a wonderful girl named Henrietta, who is already an important character in the first book, and who will grow up to be a great painter;

one sequel is set at Christmas and has a wonderful message, the other is set at high summer, but so magical it still feels right for this season;

the first book is set over the span of more than one year, and has absolutely gorgeous Christmas chapters;

the prose is lovely and evocative, the descriptions full of detail, the wide cast of characters endearing, and the various relationships and kinds of love (romantic, platonic, familial, and more than that) simply beautiful;

it is a book about art, artists, and the appreciation of art and its value: there is a bookshop, a poet, an actress, a very imaginative child, but there are also depictions of numerous other ways people use their creative ability as a means to communicate and to enrich but also understand the world around us;

the setting is lovely, a tiny town within a lovely landscape, and within the town the microcosm of the Cathedral Close;

soft, cosy, warm; lots of tea and treats, and Little Things;

there is a dog called Mixed Biscuits: “Front elevation collie, rear elevation pomeranian. The man I bought him from said he was a spaniel, but I think myself that there’s a dash of dachshund about the legs.” And there are even more dogs in the sequel: Keeper and Mee-Too.

All three books were very rare and usually out of print for a long while, especially the two sequels, but are currently in print or at least widely available. A City of Bells is the first book, and originally a stand-alone; Sister of the Angels was published before Henrietta’s House (published in the US as The Blue Hills), but is set later. The first is an adult novel, but suitable for all ages, if it should interest a younger reader, whereas the other two are children’s books of the kind that are just as appealing for adult readers. All books are ideally read together, but all of them can be read separately.

As in all of Goudge’s books, there are themes of religion and spirituality, mental illness and disability, and societal values and problems, but they are a bit gentler than in her other books – certainly there, but lighter, as the focus is rather on art and the individual, making them very soft and gentle, but nonetheless thoughtful reads for the season.

Goudge has a great gift of evoking a sense of time and place, so one does feel the town and also its seasons and celebrations very much when reading. Places in Goudge novels are very much characters on their own, and Torminster, the bookshop, the blue hills, and especially the Cathedral are very tangible, and in a way, also very independent. They are not fantasy books (except, maybe, Henrietta’s House) but they do have more than just a touch of magic.

Read if you like books about books and booklovers, the language of art, orphans finding loving homes, cute dogs, eccentric townsfolk, detailed descriptions of places and festivities and food, and very gentle romantic sub-plots. (As well as old novels that fit very vaguely into a dark academia or cottagecore aesthetic, if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for.)

Out of Elizabeth Goudge’s adult novels, it is definitely the easiest to adapt for the screen:

Though it is introspective like all her books, there is a great lot of dialogue and direct action, and the characters’ unspoken feelings can still be portrayed fairly well. There is a wide but managable cast of eccentric but likeable characters within a rather rightly-knit community. Time and place are obvious. The religious aspects are easier to get right. The sequels can be adapted optionally, but the story works well enough on its own.

— A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge

Under one of the mulberry bushes he stood still. It was intensely quiet and with the sky so overcast twilight seemed not far away. It was growing cold with already a hint of coming rain, and the scent of violets came to him from somewhere. It was that moment of a spring evening when the birds sing with such a piercing sweetness that the hour is charmed. The swift flight of the spring is halted and though one listens for only ten minutes of pure peace it might be ten years. The cold sweet spring, thought Michael, the cold sweet spring.