Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge (1944-06-02)

Before reading Green Dolphin Street I had seen the film as a teenager. At that age what primarily interested me was the spectacular earthquake sequence and the tidal wave. Although the movie version followed quite well the novel, as is usually the case, the novel was unequivocally better than the movie. It tells an old-fashioned tale, set in the mid-nineteenth century, of unrequited love, mistaken identity and spiritual redemption.One could even argue that there is the element of women's liberation in the character of Marianne who envies the freedom and self-determination males have and seeks to achieve her own by moulding the character of the man she marries. By way of contrast her sister Marguerite never marries the man she loves because of a cruel twist of fate and eventually becomes a nun believing that this vocation is what has been ordained for her since the beginning of time. If you are a cynic or one who considers predictability a literary demerit, you will probably not get farther than 50 of the 500 plus pages of this book. But if you are not too jaded by modern fiction replete with gratuitous sex and violence, go along with Elizabeth Goudge and Marianne who leave their home in the Channel Islands on a precipitous voyage to New Zealand where they find adventure and a good life.