Elizabeth Goudge Reading Week: An EG Quiz

I know there are some readers with an encyclopedic knowledge of Elizabeth Goudge out there, while others may have read only one or two books. Wherever you fall on the continuum, here are some questions that may intrigue and amuse you. Thanks so much to the highly knowledgable Jean of Howling Frog Books for helping me to put them together. And remember — this is just for fun!

Lana Turner starred in a Goudge-inspired film. Can you name it?

1. What distinctively-colored flowers play a major role in the plot of The Little White Horse?

2. Which three cities (sometimes lightly disguised) are the setting for Goudge’s “Three Cities of Bells”: A City of Bells, Towers in the Mist, and The Dean’s Watch?

3. Which book was made into an Academy-Award-winning movie, with a title song that became a jazz standard recorded by the likes of Tony Bennett and John Coltrane?

4. What Scottish folk hero’s name is borne by the pony in Linnets and Valerians?

5. What plagiarized Goudge novel was acclaimed as “at once achingly familiar and breathtakingly new” in the Washington Post, when slightly revised and published under the title of Crane’s Morning by Indian author Indrani Aikath-Gyaltsen?

6. What is the “island” of Island Magic?

7. Each book in the Eliot Family trilogy (The Bird in the Tree, The Herb of Grace/Pilgrim’s Inn, and The Heart of the Family) has a central theme or idea. Name all three, and their symbols.

8. In I Saw Three Ships, what is Polly Flowerdew’s extra, unexpected present in her stocking?

9. In The Scent of Water, Mary and Edith have the same two favorite “little things.” What are they?

10. Goudge did NOT set one (or more) of her novels during which of the following wars? The Wars of the Roses, the English Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Second World War.

11. What favorite dog breed did Goudge nickname “the Hobbits,” because like Tolkien’s characters they have large furry feet and are masters of “the art of disappearing swiftly and silently”?

12. What poet is the author of Goudge’s most beloved prayer (which was incorporated in her fiction as well as read at her memorial service): “Lord have mercy. Thee I adore. Into thy hands.”?

ANSWERS (Highlight with cursor to view):
1. Salmon-pink geraniums 2. Wells, Oxford, and Ely 3. Green Dolphin Street (original UK title: Green Dolphin Country) 4. Rob-Roy 5. The Rosemary Tree 6. Guernsey 7. 8. Bird: renewal, bluebird; Herb: astringency, wild rue; Heart: freshness, an underground fountain 8. A netted purse with sixpence inside 9. An ivory carving of Queen Mab in a carriage, and a blue glass tea set 10. The Wars of the Roses 11. Dandie Dinmonts 12. Thomas Traherne
So, how did you do? If you need help, some clues can be found in other EGRW posts.