Elizabeth Goudge Day: the Giveaway Post!

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Luckily for us, Hendrickson Publishers has generously offered a copy of The Dean's Watch for our
 giveaway!


COMMENT ON THIS POST TO ENTER, and I will choose a winner with the help of random.org on Saturday, April 28.  The rules are at the bottom of the post.

The Dean's Watch is one of the Cathedral Trilogy, which seem to bear no particular relation to each other except that each is set in a cathedral town and has a lot to do with said cathedral.  Towers in the Mist is set in Elizabethan Oxford, The Dean's Watch in Victorian disguised-Ely, and City of Bells in Edwardian disguised-Wells.  (City of Bells even kicks off a different trilogy, with two children's stories to round it out!)

What's it about?  Let's ask the publisher:
A compelling saga of an unlikely friendship threaded together by redemption and grace

The setting is a remote mid-nineteenth-century town in England and its grand cathedral. The cathedral Dean, Adam Ayscough, holds a deep love for his parishioners and townspeople, but he is held captive by an irrational shyness and intimidating manner. The Dean and Isaac Peabody, an obscure watchmaker who does not think he or God have anything in common, strike up an unlikely friendship. This leads to an unusual spiritual awakening that touches the entire community. (Hendrickson)

I read The Dean's Watch three years ago for Elizabeth Goudge Week (hosted by Lory at Emerald City Book Review), and it promptly became a favorite.  I commented:
An interesting thing in a Goudge novel is that virtually no one, no matter how villainous, gets a comeuppance.  Nobody gets what they deserve; they invariably get something much better, and even the most awful people get some easing of their burdens, some way to be softened and become a bit better.  They don't usually repent completely and become wonderful people--she's more realistic than that even when writing a fairy tale. 
I also learned about Ely Cathedral from The Dean's Watch, and just a year later, I actually got to visit!   I don't think I would have known to go if I hadn't read the novel.


Comment to enter the giveaway!   In your comment, put your name and contact email, and then answer this question: You have the choice of Oxford, Ely, or Wells to visit for one day.  Which do you choose, and why?

Comments

  1. travelerApril 24, 2018 at 9:34 AM

    This novel sounds captivating and lovely. The era, setting and story appeals to me greatly. What a real treasure. Many thanks for your great giveaway. I enjoy British novels as they are meaningful and unforgettable. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. JDebApril 24, 2018 at 10:36 AM

    Julie jdebaxter@gmail.com

    Well, honestly, I don't know enough about the different places to make a choice. I've heard the most about Oxford, so maybe one of the other places. I don't know. I've just recently discovered Elizabeth Goudge and have only read a couple of her works for children, so I'd like a chance to read something else. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. BookTapestryApril 25, 2018 at 9:27 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BookTapestryApril 25, 2018 at 9:30 PM

    Elizabeth Goudge is new to me, but your review has put her on my to be read list. I have been to the cathedrals in Ely and Wells, both spectacular, but somehow I never got to Oxford. So I'd like go to Oxford, especially to the Bodleian Library. I just finished Jan Morris' "Conundrum", in which Oxford is mentioned quite a bit. Christina. I am: DuchessMaude @ gmail com.

    ReplyDelete

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