I think many of us who will be reading along have family members who took part in this conflict. My uncles were in the military, one out in Egypt, one on the mine sweepers in the English Channel, another parachuted into France. My aunt was in the nursing corps . My father was just too young to participate, but had wonderful stories about being a young boy while the war was taking place. My mothers family who lived in the depths of the Essex countryside took in refugees. I was born only two years after rationing stopped.
Elizabeth was widely read, and naturally took a keen interest in the politics and policies that were enacted. She had a particular empathy with refugees, as home was so important to her. She found it particularly distressing that they had been uprooted from their culture, families and homes.
My father was a soldier for the end of WWII and my maternal grandfather was not fit enough to be conscripted but was in France picking bodies up for burial from battlefields (he was in the Red Cross). My other grandfather was an engineer in WWI and an officer in the Home Guard in the second. My aunt was evacuated out to Buffalo and my mother to her gran in the countryside.
I had forgotten how much this shared history had impacted my childhood as the war was still very much present in peoples’ minds and in the landscapes where waste ground still showed where bombed houses had been, and the new temporary housing hastily put up and some are still used today.
I have read Castle on the Hill many times, but not recently. The opening chapters reminded me of my own family experiences and also reinforced the impact of the wars that are happening at the moment. The opening chapter was not a comfortable or easy read, despite the hope that EG embeds in her work.
Goudge tells the story with great honesty, so I am not surprised that it is difficult to get through with close personal experience. Hopefully there will be some redemption in it for you still! <3
As an American, it is good for me to hear Goudge's first hand experiences of the war. My grandfathers were both on ships in the Pacific, and my husband's grandfather pulled tanks through the mud for the Battle of the Bulge. However, our country recovered and boomed so quickly after the war that the grief of it seems lost. I find myself wondering, especially recently, if our grandparents who came home to produce so much wealth also took enough time to explain the gravity of the whole thing to their children...
This will be at least the fourth time I have read this particular book. A firm favourite. Looking forward to other readers comments. It seems a very relevant read for our disquieting times.
So glad you can join us Deborah! It is always a revelation to read this one together and see how it strikes a chord in time and season. I remember it feeling so comforting in 2020, and then in 2022 — but I think it will resonate even more in 2025. 📚❤️
I think many of us who will be reading along have family members who took part in this conflict. My uncles were in the military, one out in Egypt, one on the mine sweepers in the English Channel, another parachuted into France. My aunt was in the nursing corps . My father was just too young to participate, but had wonderful stories about being a young boy while the war was taking place. My mothers family who lived in the depths of the Essex countryside took in refugees. I was born only two years after rationing stopped.
Elizabeth was widely read, and naturally took a keen interest in the politics and policies that were enacted. She had a particular empathy with refugees, as home was so important to her. She found it particularly distressing that they had been uprooted from their culture, families and homes.
Yes, she writes so beautifully about the displaced peoples, and so often reminds us that Jesus and the holy family were just as they.
My father was a soldier for the end of WWII and my maternal grandfather was not fit enough to be conscripted but was in France picking bodies up for burial from battlefields (he was in the Red Cross). My other grandfather was an engineer in WWI and an officer in the Home Guard in the second. My aunt was evacuated out to Buffalo and my mother to her gran in the countryside.
I had forgotten how much this shared history had impacted my childhood as the war was still very much present in peoples’ minds and in the landscapes where waste ground still showed where bombed houses had been, and the new temporary housing hastily put up and some are still used today.
I have read Castle on the Hill many times, but not recently. The opening chapters reminded me of my own family experiences and also reinforced the impact of the wars that are happening at the moment. The opening chapter was not a comfortable or easy read, despite the hope that EG embeds in her work.
Goudge tells the story with great honesty, so I am not surprised that it is difficult to get through with close personal experience. Hopefully there will be some redemption in it for you still! <3
As an American, it is good for me to hear Goudge's first hand experiences of the war. My grandfathers were both on ships in the Pacific, and my husband's grandfather pulled tanks through the mud for the Battle of the Bulge. However, our country recovered and boomed so quickly after the war that the grief of it seems lost. I find myself wondering, especially recently, if our grandparents who came home to produce so much wealth also took enough time to explain the gravity of the whole thing to their children...
This will be at least the fourth time I have read this particular book. A firm favourite. Looking forward to other readers comments. It seems a very relevant read for our disquieting times.
So glad you can join us Deborah! It is always a revelation to read this one together and see how it strikes a chord in time and season. I remember it feeling so comforting in 2020, and then in 2022 — but I think it will resonate even more in 2025. 📚❤️