Product Description

The White Witch is a story set at the time of the beginning of the English Civil War and the men and women drawn into it on both sides. Robert Haslewood, the local squire turns puritan and follows his boyhood hero to war leaving his children and wife behind him. His cousin Froniga, half gypsy and the White Witch of the title, a wise woman with the power of healing lives in danger. Her gypsy cousins sometimes camp near her but will always move on. They have befriended Yomen, who conceals a grand past but is now a tinker and royalist spy. He loves the puritan Froniga. A journey man painter, Francis, delights in painting the Haslewood children while spying too for the royalist cause. Their lives entwine until the bloodiness of war forces them to be loyal to their side whatever their personal ties, threatening to destroy friendships and humanity and kindness in the process.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96380 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

About the Author
Elizabeth Goudge was born in 1900. She became a popular adult novelist who also wrote a number of well-loved children's fantasies. She was awarded the Libary Association's Carnegie Medal for The Little White Horse in 1946. She died in 1984.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful novel
Having previously read and enjoyed The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, a charming book for children, I decided to read The White Witch, a novel intended for older readers. This is a beautifully written book detailing the lives of the Haselwood family and through them various other characters during the English civil war years of 1642-1643. A large part of the story is seen through the eyes of Froniga Haselwood (the white witch of the title) and John Loggin, a royalist spy and cavalry officer. They, and the other characters, who make up the rich and colourful tapestry of the story, are portrayed with very great realism, their faults and virtues equally described as the story unfolds and they work their way through the heartbreak and bleakness of the civil war. I could not put this book down, it was a wonderful and highly satisfying read.

Beautifully written, and rather touching
I've always loved The Little White Horse, and I also recently re-read Heart of the Family, one of Goudge's contemporary (1950s) novels. I was trying to find another of those - The Herb of Grace - when I came across this one. The White Witch concentrates for the most part on the earlier part of the civil war, 1642-43, and on the Oxfordshire/Berkshire areas. Froniga is the White Witch of the title, and she is the central, linking, figure, although the action does not always revolve around her. For me this was a new perspective of the war - parliamentarians and royalists are portrayed with an equal affection and lack of bias, so that it is easy to understand equally why Robert Haslewood - being the character he is - gives his loyalty to Hampden and Cromwell, and why John Lobbin is adamantly for the king. All of the characters are well rounded, not just Frongia, Robert and his children, but also the parson, and Yobin, and even Robert's annoying wife Margaret. The magic in the novel seems entirely believable and accepted as completely natural by everyone, but I like the different ways in which the magic - both good and evil - is laid to rest. I enjoyed this book very much. The only aspect I was not sure about was the Jenny/Francis relationship. It took all of the power of Frongia's visions to persuade me that this could and would work, even though I could understand what it was in each character that the other loved.

The White Witch
I enjoyed this book. It was a good mixture of the history of the time and a romantic story.