Elizabeth de Beauchamp Goudge was born on April 24th 1900 in Wells, Somerset, where her father was Principal of Wells Theological College. Although she had privately intended writing as a career, her parents insisted she taught handicrafts in Oxford. She began writing in her spare time and her first novel ISLAND MAGIC, set in Guernsey, was a great success here and in America. GREEN DOLPHIN COUNTRY (1944) projected her to fame, netting a Literary Guild Award and a special prize of £30,000 from Louis B. Mayer of MGM before being filmed.In her later years Elizabeth Goudge settled in Henley-on-Thames. She died on April 1st, 1984.

Genuine discernment and poignancy - Sunday TimesLively and charming - ObserverLeaves the reader with a warm glow in the emotions - Times Educational SupplementMiss Goudge has the art of presenting men and women, to say nothing of children, as genuinely convincing persons, too human to be either wholly good or wholly bad - Scotsman