ACCLAIMED Oxfordshire author Elizabeth Goudge is to be honoured today with a blue plaque to recognise her contribution to literature.

The romantic novelist, who sold millions of books worldwide and counts Harry Potter author JK Rowling among her fans, is to be honoured with the plaque at her former home in Rotherfield Peppard, near Henley.

Miss Goudge, who died in 1984 aged 83, is best known for her book Green Dolphin Country which tells the story of two sisters who fall in love with the same man.

It won the American Literary Guild Award in 1944 and was later turned into the Hollywood film Green Dolphin Street, earning Miss Goudge £30,000 for the script.

Born in Wells, Somerset, Miss Goudge moved to Oxford in 1923 when her father was made Regius Professor of Divinity at the university.

The prolific writer's novel, Towers in the Mist, is based on her experiences of living in Tom Quad, Christ Church, where she stayed until the outbreak of the Second World War.

The book tells the story of a poor Londoner in Elizabethan times who heads to Oxford to become a university scholar, and features St Bartholomew's Church in East Oxford prominently.

Her fantasy novel The Little White Horse is cited as JK Rowling's favourite childhood book.

Miss Goudge's fans across the country helped to raise the £400 needed to put up the plaque, which will be unveiled at Rose Cottage, in Dog Lane.

Her biographer, Sylvia Gower, said: "Recognition for Elizabeth is long overdue. As she became older she faded from the public eye and she's never really had the full recognition for her work. This plaque helps to put that right."