The Battle of the Villa Fiorita written by Rumer Godden (1907-1998) is partly autobiographical. When her first marriage ended in divorce and she later remarried, there were difficulties between her two daughters and her second husband. This situation was fictionalised in The Battle of the Villa Fiorita. In this book, the two children of Fanny … Continue reading The Battle of the Villa Fiorita by Rumer Godden (1963)
Rumer Godden
Kingfishers Catch Fire by Rumer Godden
Kingfishers Catch Fire was published in 1953 and was ‘compounded of three years’ living, thinking and perhaps dreaming in Kashmir.’It is said to be Rumer Godden’s most autobiographical novel and if you’ve read anything of her life you can find similarities between that and parts of this story. It’s interesting that Godden took the first … Continue reading Kingfishers Catch Fire by Rumer Godden
Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
Although there are some similarities between Rumer Godden’s books, In This House of Brede (1969) and Black Narcissus (1939), the settings are poles apart. Both depict a community of nuns; the former in a traditional setting in a convent in England, and the latter, a small group in Mopu, a remote village in the Himalayas. … Continue reading Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
November Notes
Next month Brona @ This Reading Life will be hosting a Rumer Godden Reading Week to mark the author's birthday. It will take place from Saturday 4th December to Sunday 12th December 2021. Two of her books I'm thinking of reading are 'China Court' and 'The Black Narcissus.' I especially liked her novel In This … Continue reading November Notes
An Episode of Sparrows
An Episode of Sparrows is another perceptive and sensitive novel by Rumer Godden. Godden’s writing is spare and unsentimental with a gritty realism, but also much beauty. In the preface to this book she wrote: 'Finally the time came when I had to tell myself miserably, “You have squandered, muddled, and wasted everything, everything from opportunity … Continue reading An Episode of Sparrows
journey & destination 