The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge

Elizabeth Goudge was an Edwardian romantic and I grew up in love with her children's book The Little White Horse. Something in the magic of it carried me through my days. This book, The Bird in the Tree, has a similar magical animal, a bluebird, as a sort of emblem. It's an unabashed, moralistic, religious centred love story but I love it as a period piece. It's about the Eliot family who live in Damroseay on the English coast, and has something of the Delderfield about it. The story is silly really, a grandson who wants to marry his aunt, the evils of divorce, the value of duty. But what the hell, I liked it because Elizabeth Goudge wrote it.