The little white horse
Ratings11
Average rating4.1
In 1842, thirteen-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather arrives at Moonacre Manor, her family's ancestral home in an charmed village in England's West Country, and she feels as if she’s entered Paradise. Her new guardian, her uncle Sir Benjamin, is kind and funny; the Manor itself feels like home right away; and every person and animal she meets is like an old friend. But there is something incredibly sad beneath all of this beauty and comfort, that shadowing Moonacre Manor and the town around it. Maria is determined to learn about it, change it, and give her own life story a happy ending.
The enchanted valley of Moonacre is shadowed by a tragedy that happened years ago, and the memory of the Moon Princess and the mysterious little white horse. Determined to restore peace and happiness to the whole of Moonacre Valley, Maria finds herself involved with an ancient feud, and she discovers it is her destiny to end it and right the wrongs of her ancestors. Maria usually gets her own way. But what can one solitary girl do?
A new-fashioned fantasy story that is as wonderful as the best classic fairy tales.
(The 1994 mini-series "Moonacre" and 2008 movie "The Secret of Moonacre" and the are both based on this book.)
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Popular Reviews
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CLM at Staircase Wit said her sentimental favorite childhood book is The Little White Horse, so I found a copy and spent a day reading it.
The Little White Horse is the story of Maria and her governess, Miss Heliotrope, and Maria's dog, Wiggins, who go to live with Maria's cousin, Sir Benjamin, after the death of Maria's father. There are troubles at Maria's new home, the family estate called Moonacre, and it soon becomes clear that it is up to Maria to fix the problems there.
I loved the way all the little incidents in the story fit together beautifully, like the pieces of a puzzle. The story was lit from within by a sense of enchantment, a feeling of the magical, and the little white horse was central to that feeling. But even the smaller parts of the story—even the initial meeting between Maria and her cousin—had a shimmer of magic to it in the way that the two took to each other on first sight. Maria and Miss Heliotrope were described as ordinary, dull even, and yet as they came to live at Moonacre and came to enjoy their new lives, the two changed to present a beautiful appearance.
I can easily see why this is a beloved story.
One of the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up.
This is so lovely it breaks my heart! Everything is so fine and beautiful and lovely, and yet it's totally believable and makes me want to make my home and my clothes and everything about my life as fine and beautiful and lovely and bright as I can!
I read this as a child, and thanks to wonderful librarians who figured out which book it was with very little information, reread it as an adult.
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When you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...
