The Little White Horse
First edition
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| Author | Elizabeth Goudge |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | C. Walter Hodges |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's fantasy novel |
| Publisher | University of London Press |
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Publication date
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June 1946 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 286 pp (first edition) |
| OCLC | 12658611 |
| LC Class | PZ7.G71 Li |
The Little White Horse is a low fantasy children's novel by Elizabeth Goudge, first published by the University of London Press in 1946 with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges. Coward–McCann published a U.S. edition next year. Set in 1842, it features a recently orphaned teenage girl who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. The estate, village, and vicinity are shrouded in mystery and magic; the "little white horse" is a unicorn.
Goudge won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. It has been adapted for film and television.
WorldCat participating libraries report holding editions in eleven languages of translation.
Maria Merryweather becomes an orphan at age 13, upon her father's death in 1842. She is sent to the Moonacre Manor somewhere in the west of England, accompanied by her governess Miss Heliotrope and dog Wiggins. There she finds herself in a world out of time. Her cousin and guardian Sir Benjamin Merryweather is one of the "sun" Merryweathers, and she loves him right away, as sun and moon Merryweathers do. Maria discovers that there is an ancient mystery about the founding of the estate.
She is aided by wonderful people and magical beasts, but it is only by self-sacrifice and perseverance, too, that Maria is able to save Moonacre, right the wrongs, reunite lost loves and finally bring peace to the valley.
The 1994 television mini-series Moonacre was based on The Little White Horse.
In 2008, the book was adapted into a film called The Secret of Moonacre, written by Lucy Shuttleworth and Graham Alborough and directed by Gabor Csupo. Starring Dakota Blue Richards as Maria, the movie was mostly shot in Hungary and released in February 2009.
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