"The White Witch" is set during England's civil war period. It is a book of contrasts; gentry and servants, well-born and gypsies, a white witch and aparson, a black witch and an itinerant painter. Within each character's story are struggles, human suffering, and choices to be made that all contribute to a satisfying (and in some cases, unexpected), ending.Froniga (the gypsy name for “Veronica”) is the white witch in the story. Her love interest, Yoben, is fighting for the Royalist cause, while Froniga's cousin Robert Haslewood (who though married has never stopped loving his cousin) is on the side of Parliament and Oliver Cromwell.“If you do not fight this war for the religious reason then for what reasondo you fight it?”“...if ever I have the luck to find myself in a charge of Rupert's it will be because loyalty to the crown is in the family tradition and we are a family who do not break with tradition. But I have a further reason. Whenas a very young man I first went to court the king was not yet thirty. Heshowed me great kindness and I loved him. I love him still. He neverloses men's love though he does at times break their hearts....the kinglived and dreamed his dreams. He shared them with me.The whole of England was to be an Arcadia, a united people enjoying theblessings of peace and prosperity...under his absolute authority,worshipping God as king and archbishop bade them, as united in religious as in secular obedience. His people were, to the king, a sacred trust fromGod, and his people were to look upon him as God's own representative, ruling them by divine right....Human nature is intractable stuff, hard jagged stuff, the sort of stuff that dreams are wrecked on. Yet still for me, as, I believe, for the king, there is the dream. The perfect England. It is a lovely land. It is better to die for a broken dream than for no dream at all.” The story is a multi-layered one. How the characters' lives intersect and their actions affect one another make for an interesting read. Mother Skipton, the 'black witch' in the story, believes herself too far gone into evil to have any hope for a better life.“There was a long silence and then Mother Skipton said in cold misery, “It is too late.”“Why did you come to church on Christmas Day?” asked Froniga.“How do you know I did that?” demanded Mother Skipton.“I saw you going away,” said Froniga. “And I will tell you why you were there. You came because Parson Hawthyn had woken in you a longing for the days when you had not yet chosen evil for your good. If it had been too late you would not have been capable of longing.”“...I am far too tired now to change my way of life.”The dull hopelessness of her despair made Froniga feel cold and sick. The night pressed upon her and the squalor of the room where they sat...Then, as though she were dragging herself up out of some morass of mud, she roused herself and said, “I believe I can guess what you heard when you knelt in the porch, listening by the crack of the door. 'Though thou has been benighted till now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed, damp and benumbed, smothered and stupified till now, now God comes to thee.”You heard that. Can't you believe it?”“You talk nonsense,” said Mother Skipton. “The old man talks nonsense. God does not come to lost souls.”“He has come,” said Froniga. “In His servant, the old man, He has come.”Can an old woman steeped in black magic forsake the pull of the her old ways and live once again free from the desire for power over others? Will the actions of her neighbors and superstitious villagers give rise tobitterness, or the kind actions of the village parson bring her to trust once again in man's capacity for human kindness?Will Robert come to terms with his own failures to love his family as they deserve to be loved, and will he ever learn to stop being afraid to ride into battle?What about the Royalists and the Puritans as portrayed in the novel and their separate beliefs? How do they mesh within a small English country village?“He leaned at the window, drinking in the beauty of what he saw. At hebeginning he, like Charles, had his dream...the perfect England...they had differed in the way to find perfection, through freedom or autocracy, butit had been much the same dream. And now England was rent by their conflicting dreams, and the dreams themselves were foundering. Yet it occurred to Hampden, as he breathed in the cool air, honey-scented with roses and hay, that he would rather die for a broken dream than for no dream at all....He did not usually indulge such fancies, the times were brutal and he had no leisure for sentiment, but personal sorrow had ploughed deep furrows in him and below the surface failure and stress he was oddly aware at this moment of deep-down freshness, as though dreams that had failed had sunk down and sprung up in the soul, as awareness of God's mercy.”There are episodes of tragic betrayal, of English stoicism and fear of death in battle, of English country tradition, of faith and failure to believe..“As his fatigue grew depression grew with it. What a wicked country was this England, even now in the ending of this year of grace 1642. Though itwould be hard to find a man or woman without faith of some sort the faith of so many was twisted to evil....were the fanatical among the Puritansmuch better? Their God was the tribal God of the Israelites and they had forgotten the mercy of Christ. And for that matter so had many men and women who acknowledged a like faith with himself, for what had the tortures of Tyburn, the block, the gallows and the pillory to do with Christ? He stumbled over a stone and almost fell. Under the lowering sky with itsdark and phantom clouds the evil of the world seemed crushing him into the earth.”There are scenes of superstitious belief leading to impulsive harsh actions, scenes of courage and rescuing those being persecuted for their beliefs, and scenes of friendship and loyalty..“You will soon be well again and next time the king takes the field you will go with him. You have worked through it now.”“Through what, Froniga?”“Through this present spell of evil fortune. These black times go as they come and we do not know how they come or why they go. But we know that Godcontrols them, as He controls the whole vast cobweb of the mystery of things.”...He went back into the kitchen and lay down before the glowing ashes of the fire, but he did not sleep. The present spell of private misfortune might be over but not the misfortunes of his king and country that he must share until the end. He lay thinking of them, but not without hope. .. He did not understand tonight what Froniga was talking about but through theyears ahead he never forgot what she had said. In the blackest times it would flash through his mind like light.”Elizabeth Goudge has written a story that will keep the reader's interest and, although written about a period in seventeenth century English history, still asks questions that pertain to life today."One life knows many judgments," she said. "They are like the chapters in a book. What if every chapter but the last is one of defeat? The last can redeem it all. And God knows the heart that in its weakness longs for Him. Patient still, He adds another chapter, and then another, and then in the hour of victory closes the book"..."You always know where the salve is needed," he said. "If we could all see the hidden wounds of others as clearly as you do, 'Love your enemies' would not be so hard a command to keep."...She did not go with him through the garden, as was her custom, but stayed where she was, listening ot his footfall on the flagged path by the well. He might come again tomorrow, or the day after, but things would not again be as they had been. So this was civil war. She had not known it was so bitter."
One of Elizabeth Goudge's adult books with over 300 pages of historical fiction. Though Goudge published THE WHITE WITCH first in 1958 in England, the book channels an earlier writing era in its atmosphere, description, and sentence style. It's set in 1642 England during the reign of the unfortunate King Charles I...during a period that is now known as the English civil war...when Parliament and their supporters struggled for power against the monarchy and their royalist loyalists. Goudge has created such richly-drawn characters and places that they fairly leap from the page into the imagination. The main character Froniga, part gypsy/part English Haslewood gentry, is a fictional creation who is an independent female but a likable healer and nurturing mother figure (although she is actually single and childless) attached to her cousin Robert Haslewood's children, Jenny and Will, as well as the unfortunate gypsy children Meriful, Dinki, and sister Cinderella. In addition to the fictional characters, readers will recognize names of actual historical places, events, and figures such as Oliver Cromwell and the Royal family.In the battle of good vs evil, there is a counter to Froniga, the white, or good, witch, called Mother Skipton who channels spells from the dark side -- at least, until Parson Hawthyn allies himself in a spiritual way with her in an effort to rescue her soul. Remember, England in the 1600s is a place of great religious fervor and upheaval, a place where religion and government are not yet separate meaning that religious beliefs and practices can lead to persecution and martyrdom. A key character, Yoben, travels as a non-Gypsy with the gypsies, and is a Royalist spy and a secret Catholic priest (a recusant priest).A notable aspect of this book is the sympathetic treatment of gypsies and the carefully researched details of the lives and language of a people often negatively stereotyped in literature.A few battle scenes might have been cut a bit shorter to hasten the flow of the story, but this flaw seemed minor.All in all an absorbing and enjoyable read in this genre.
Do You like book The White Witch (1973)?
Published in 1958 and set in England during the Civil War period of 1642, The White Witch gently follows the slowly intertwining fortunes of the Haslewood family in a rural village in Oxfordshire, the local "white" witch Froniga who is their cousin and who is also related to a band of gypsies who periodically seek safe harbour in the local woods, as well as spies in the Civil War, one of which is her unconsummated lover of ten years. Beautifully evocative descriptions of the English countryside and fascinating insights into customs of the time and the Romany peoples made this a delightful slow read, and made one fight the urge to constantly consult a herbal.
—Sharon Malcolm
The White Witch is probably one of the most beautiful and unusual books I've ever read. It is not a terribly thrilling story, nor is it a page-turner. It is a very quiet, gentle story with gorgeous prose and phrases that literally delight your senses and transport you to another time and place. I savored each chapter and description delighting in the author's charming descriptions of an English village before the English Civil War, the beautiful white witch and healer, Froniga, and the gypsy groups in colorful wagons which inhabited the woods. I almost expected to open the book and have the scent of apple wood smoke or lavender and mint to emanate from the pages! It may not be for everyone, but I think this book will appeal to those who enjoy old-fashioned tales and elegant writing with a nod to Beauty and the Beast. 3.5 stars
—Joanne
Set in the English civil war this is one of my most favourite historical fiction books. I've read it many times and will again. The main character Jenny is both a product of the old establishment, and another much stranger people and it shows, for she has the best of both worlds. She lives in her little cottage with her cat and her wondrous garden that she uses to help treat the locals. That in itself make us fear for her for this was a time of rejection of anything but the staunchest Christianity. The fear grows as we meet those willing to die for their convictions. A great read.
—Angela Mortimer
