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{{Short description|British author (1907–1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox writer <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].-->
{{Infobox writer <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].-->
| name = Rumer Godden
| name = Rumer Godden
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| embed =
| image = Rumer Godden (1).jpg
| honorific_suffix = OBE
| alt = Young woman with 1940s hairstyle
| image =
| caption = Rumer Godden, 1940s
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| birth_name = Margaret Rumer Godden
| alt =
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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1907|12|10}} <!-- {{birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| birth_place = [[Eastbourne]], Sussex, England
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| birth_name = Margaret Rumer Godden
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1907|12|10}} <!-- {{birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1998|11|08|1907|12|10}} <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| death_place = [[Moniaive]], Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
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| birth_place = [[Eastbourne]], Sussex, England
| resting_place =
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1998|11|08|1907|12|10}} <!-- {{death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| occupation = Novelist, poet and children's story writer
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| death_place = [[Moniaive]], Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
| resting_place =
| language =
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| education =
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| occupation = Novelist, poet and children's story writer
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| notableworks = ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]'',<br /> ''[[The River (1951 film)|The River]]'',<br /> ''[[The Greengage Summer]]'',<br /> ''The Doll's House''
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| genre = <!-- or: | genres = -->
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| spouse = {{unbulleted list | Laurence Sinclair Foster<br />(1934–1948) | James Haynes Dixon<br />(1949–1973, his death)}} <!-- or: | spouses = -->
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| notableworks = ''[[Black Narcissus]]'',<br> ''[[The River (1951 film)|The River]]'',<br> ''[[The Greengage Summer]]'',<br> ''The Doll's House''
| relatives =
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| spouse = {{unbulleted list | Laurence Sinclair Foster<br>(1934–1948) | James Haynes Dixon<br>(1949-1973, his death)}} <!-- or: | spouses = -->
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| awards = [[Costa Book Awards|Whitbread Award for Children's Literature]] (1972)
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| children = Jane (Foster) Murray Flutter<br> Paula (Foster) Kenilworth
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| awards = [[Costa Book Awards|Whitbread Award for Children's Literature]] (1972)
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'''Margaret Rumer Godden''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (10 December 1907&nbsp;– 8 November 1998<ref name="IndepObit">{{cite web | last = Guttridge | first = Peter | title = Obituary: Rumer Godden | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-rumer-godden-1184108.html | website = www.independent.co.uk | date = 11 November 1998 | access-date = 17 September 2016}}</ref>) was an English author of more than 60 [[fiction]] and [[non-fiction]] books. Nine of her works have been made into films,<ref name="RGtrust">{{cite web | title = Rumer Godden Literary Trust homepage | url = http://www.rumergodden.com/index.php | website = www.rumergodden.com | access-date = 17 September 2016}}</ref> most notably ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]'' in 1947.
'''Margaret Rumer Godden''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (10 December 1907&nbsp;– 8 November 1998<ref name="IndepObit">{{cite web | last = Guttridge | first = Peter | title = Obituary: Rumer Godden | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-rumer-godden-1184108.html | website = www.independent.co.uk | date = 11 November 1998 | access-date = 17 September 2016}}</ref>) was a British author of more than 60 [[fiction]] and [[non-fiction]] books. Nine of her works have been made into films,<ref name="RGtrust">{{cite web | title = Rumer Godden Literary Trust homepage | url = http://www.rumergodden.com/index.php | website = www.rumergodden.com | access-date = 17 September 2016}}</ref> most notably ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]'' in 1947 and ''[[The River (1951 film)|The River]]'' in 1951.


A few of her works were co-written with her older sister, novelist [[Jon Godden]], including ''[[Two Under the Indian Sun]]'', a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region now part of [[Bangladesh]].
A few of her works were co-written with her elder sister, novelist [[Jon Godden]], including ''Two Under the Indian Sun'', a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region of India now part of [[Bangladesh]].


==Early life==
==Early life==
[[File:Cover of Black Narcissus (1939) by Rumer Godden.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''Black Narcissus'' (1939), published by Little, Brown & Co.]]
[[File:Cover of Black Narcissus (1939) by Rumer Godden.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''Black Narcissus'' (1939), published by Little, Brown & Co.]]
Godden was born in [[Eastbourne]],<ref name="IndepObit"/> [[Sussex]], England. She grew up with her three sisters in [[Narayanganj]], [[British Raj|colonial India]] (now in [[Bangladesh]]), where her father, a shipping company executive, worked for the [[Brahmaputra|Brahmaputra Steam Navigation Company]].<ref name=dnb>{{citation |last=Chisholm |first=Anne |contribution=Godden, (Margaret) Rumer (1907–1998) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/71256 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |edition=online |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=11 December 2012 |year=2004}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Her parents sent the girls to England for schooling, as was the custom of the time, but brought them back to Narayanganj when the [[First World War]] began.
Godden was born in [[Eastbourne]],<ref name="IndepObit"/> [[Sussex]], England. She grew up with her three sisters in [[Narayanganj]], [[British Raj|colonial India]] (now in [[Bangladesh]]), where her father, a shipping company executive, worked for the [[Brahmaputra|Brahmaputra Steam Navigation Company]].<ref name=dnb>{{cite ODNB |last=Chisholm |first=Anne |contribution=Godden, (Margaret) Rumer (1907–1998) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/71256 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |edition=online |access-date=11 December 2012 |year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71256 }} {{subscription required}}</ref> Her parents sent the girls to England for schooling, as was the custom of the time, but brought them back to Narayanganj when the [[First World War]] began.


Godden returned to the United Kingdom with her sisters to continue her interrupted schooling in 1920, spending time at [[Moira House Girls School]] in Eastbourne and eventually training as a dance teacher. She went back to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in 1925 and opened a dance school for English and Indian children.<ref name=dnb/> Godden ran the school for 20 years with the help of her sister Nancy. During this time she published her first best-seller, the 1939 novel ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]''.
Godden returned to the United Kingdom with her sisters to continue her interrupted schooling in 1920, spending time at [[Moira House School]] in Eastbourne and eventually training as a dance teacher. She went back to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in 1925 and opened a dance school for English and Indian children.<ref name=dnb/> Godden ran the school for 20 years with the help of her sister Nancy. During this time she published her first best-seller, the 1939 novel ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]''.


==Writing career==
==Writing career==
[[File:Greengage summer.JPG|thumb|upright|''The Greengage Summer'' (1958), 1962 Pan paperback edition]]
[[File:Greengage summer.JPG|thumb|upright|''The Greengage Summer'' (1958), 1962 Pan paperback edition]]
In 1942, after eight years in an unhappy marriage (one she entered into in 1934 because she was pregnant),<ref name=dnb/> she moved with her two daughters, Jane and Paula,<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite web | last = Yarrow | first = Andrew L. | title = Rumer Godden, an Author Who Evoked Her Childhood in Colonial India, Is Dead at 90 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/10/books/rumer-godden-an-author-who-evoked-her-childhood-in-colonial-india-is-dead-at-90.html | website = www.nytimes.com | date = 11 November 1998 | access-date = 17 September 2016}}</ref> (her husband Laurence Foster having joined the army)<ref name=dnb/> to [[Kashmir]], living first on a houseboat and then in a rented house where she started a farm. The novel ''Kingfishers Catch Fire'' was based on her time in Kashmir. After a mysterious incident in which it appeared that an attempt had been made to poison both her and her daughters, she returned to Calcutta in 1944. She returned to the United Kingdom in 1945 to concentrate on her writing, frequently moving house but living mostly in [[Sussex]] and London. She was divorced in 1948.<ref name=dnb/> After returning from America to oversee the script for the movie of her book ''[[The River (1951 film)|The River]]'', Godden married civil servant James Haynes Dixon on 26{{nbsp}}November 1949.
In 1942, after eight years in an unhappy marriage (one she entered into in 1934 because she was pregnant),<ref name=dnb/> she moved with her two daughters, Jane and Paula,<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite web | last = Yarrow | first = Andrew L. | title = Rumer Godden, an Author Who Evoked Her Childhood in Colonial India, Is Dead at 90 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/10/books/rumer-godden-an-author-who-evoked-her-childhood-in-colonial-india-is-dead-at-90.html | website = www.nytimes.com | date = 11 November 1998 | access-date = 17 September 2016}}</ref> (her husband Laurence Foster having joined the army)<ref name=dnb/> to [[Kashmir]], living first on a houseboat and then in a rented house where she started a farm. The novel ''[[Kingfishers Catch Fire]]'' was based on her time in Kashmir. After a mysterious incident in which it appeared that an attempt had been made to poison both her and her daughters, she returned to Calcutta in 1944. She returned to the United Kingdom in 1945 to concentrate on her writing, frequently moving house but living mostly in [[Sussex]] and London. She was divorced in 1948.<ref name=dnb/> After returning from America to oversee the script for the movie of her book ''[[The River (1951 film)|The River]]'', Godden married civil servant James Haynes Dixon on 26{{nbsp}}November 1949.


In the early 1950s Godden became interested in the Catholic Church, though she did not officially convert until 1968,<ref>{{citation |last=Tickle |first=Phyllis |title=Introduction to ''In This House of Brede'' |year=2005 |publisher=Loyola Classics}}</ref> and several of her later novels contain sympathetic portrayals of Catholic priests and nuns. In addition to ''Black Narcissus'', two of her books deal with the subject of women in religious communities. In ''Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy'' and ''[[In This House of Brede]]'' she acutely examined the balance between the mystical, spiritual aspects of religion and the practical, human realities of religious life.
In the early 1950s Godden became interested in the Catholic Church, though she did not officially convert until 1968,<ref>{{citation |last=Tickle |first=Phyllis |title=Introduction to ''In This House of Brede'' |year=2005 |publisher=Loyola Classics}}</ref> and several of her later novels contain sympathetic portrayals of Catholic priests and nuns. In addition to ''Black Narcissus'', two of her books deal with the subject of women in religious communities. In ''Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy'' and ''[[In This House of Brede]]'' she acutely examined the balance between the mystical, spiritual aspects of religion and the practical, human realities of religious life.
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==Works==
==Works==

===Books for adults===
===Books for adults===

====Fiction====
====Fiction====
* 1936 ''Chinese Puzzle'', her first published book-length work
* 1936 ''Chinese Puzzle'', her first published book-length work
* 1937 ''The Lady and the Unicorn''
* 1937 ''The Lady and the Unicorn''
* 1939 ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]'', a story about the disorientation of British [[Anglican religious order|Anglican nun]]s in India; the first of her books to be adapted for the screen, as the [[Black Narcissus|film of the same name]] in 1947; a radio adaptation was also broadcast in 2008.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/60420c458d434489b4221c35bb2eecdd Black Narcissus]
* 1939 ''[[Black Narcissus (novel)|Black Narcissus]]'', a story about the disorientation of British [[Anglican religious order|Anglican nun]]s in India; the first of her books to be adapted for the screen, as the [[Black Narcissus|film of the same name]] in 1947; a radio adaptation was also broadcast in 2008.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/60420c458d434489b4221c35bb2eecdd Black Narcissus]
BBC Radio 4 FM, 25 February 2008 ''genome.ch.bbc.co.uk'', Accessed 27 January 2021</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/whour_drama.shtml 15 minute drama: Black Narcissus]{{not in ref|date= January 2021}}</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qjyd Woman's Hour: Black Narcissus] 21 December 2020 ''www.bbc.co.uk'', Accessed 27 January 2021</ref> A [[Black Narcissus (miniseries)|BBC mini-series]] was announced in September 2019 but was delayed until December 2020<ref name=RT1>{{Cite web|date=20 November 2020|title=When is Black Narcissus on TV?|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-11-20/black-narcissus-release-date-bbc/|access-date=26 November 2020|website=Radio Times|language=en}}</ref>
BBC Radio 4 FM, 25 February 2008 ''genome.ch.bbc.co.uk'', Accessed 27 January 2021</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/whour_drama.shtml 15 minute drama: Black Narcissus]{{not in ref|date= January 2021}}</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qjyd Woman's Hour: Black Narcissus] 21 December 2020 ''www.bbc.co.uk'', Accessed 27 January 2021</ref> A [[Black Narcissus (TV series)|BBC mini-series]] was announced in September 2019 and aired in late 2020.<ref name=RT1>{{Cite web|date=20 November 2020|title=When is Black Narcissus on TV?|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-11-20/black-narcissus-release-date-bbc/|access-date=26 November 2020|website=[[Radio Times]]|language=en}}</ref>
* 1940 ''Gypsy, Gypsy''
* 1940 ''Gypsy, Gypsy''
* 1942 ''Breakfast with the Nikolides''
* 1942 ''[[Breakfast with the Nikolides]]''
* 1945 ''A Fugue in Time'', published in the US as ''Take Three Tenses'', made into the film ''[[Enchantment (1948 film)|Enchantment]]'' in 1948 starring [[David Niven]] and [[Teresa Wright]]
* 1945 ''[[A Fugue in Time]]'', published in the US as ''Take Three Tenses'', made into the film ''[[Enchantment (1948 film)|Enchantment]]'' in 1948 starring [[David Niven]] and [[Teresa Wright]]
* 1946 ''The River'', made into [[The River (1951 film)|a film]] in 1951 directed by [[Jean Renoir]]; she collaborated on the screenplay for the film
* 1946 ''The River'', made into [[The River (1951 film)|a film]] in 1951 directed by [[Jean Renoir]]; she collaborated on the screenplay for the film.
* 1947 ''A Candle for St. Jude''
* 1947 ''A Candle for St. Jude''
* 1950 ''A Breath of Air''
* 1950 ''A Breath of Air''
* 1953 ''Kingfishers Catch Fire''
* 1953 ''[[Kingfishers Catch Fire]]''
* 1956 ''[[An Episode of Sparrows]]'', made into the film ''[[Innocent Sinners]]'' in 1958
* 1956 ''[[An Episode of Sparrows]]'', made into the film ''[[Innocent Sinners]]'' in 1958
* 1957 ''Mooltiki, and other stories and poems of India''
* 1957 ''Mooltiki, and Other Stories and Poems of India''
* 1958 ''The Greengage Summer'', made into [[The Greengage Summer|a film]] in 1961
* 1958 ''The Greengage Summer'', made into [[The Greengage Summer|a film]] in 1961
* 1961 ''China Court: The Hours of a Country House''
* 1961 ''China Court: The Hours of a Country House''
* 1963 ''The Battle of the Villa Fiorita'' [[The Battle of the Villa Fiorita|filmed in 1965]]
* 1963 ''The Battle of the Villa Fiorita'', [[The Battle of the Villa Fiorita|filmed in 1965]]
* 1968 ''Gone: A Thread of Stories'' (written with Jon Godden)
* 1968 ''Gone: A Thread of Stories'' (written with Jon Godden)
* 1968 ''Swans and Turtles'' (short stories)
* 1968 ''Swans and Turtles'' (short stories)
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====Non-fiction====
====Non-fiction====
* 1943 ''Rungli-Rungliot'' – republished in 1961 as ''Thus Far and No Further''
* 1943 ''Rungli-Rungliot'' – republished in 1961 as ''Thus Far and No Further''
* 1945 ''Bengal Journey: A story of the part played by women in the province, 1939-1945''
* 1945 ''Bengal Journey: A Story of the Part Played by Women in the Province, 1939–1945''
* 1955 ''Hans Christian Andersen'' (biography)
* 1955 ''Hans Christian Andersen'' (biography)
* 1966 ''Two Under the Indian Sun'' (childhood memories – written with Jon Godden)
* 1966 ''Two Under the Indian Sun'' (childhood memories – written with Jon Godden)
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* 1972 ''Shiva's Pigeons'' (written with Jon Godden)
* 1972 ''Shiva's Pigeons'' (written with Jon Godden)
* 1977 ''The Butterfly Lions''
* 1977 ''The Butterfly Lions''
* 1980 ''Gulbadan: Portrait of a Rose Princess At the Mughal Court''
* 1980 ''Gulbadan: Portrait of a Rose Princess at the Mughal Court''
* 1987 ''A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep'', an autobiography
* 1987 ''A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep'', an autobiography
* 1989 ''A House with Four Rooms'', an autobiography
* 1989 ''A House with Four Rooms'', an autobiography
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* 1967 ''The Kitchen Madonna'': two children make an icon for their Ukrainian housekeeper, a war refugee.
* 1967 ''The Kitchen Madonna'': two children make an icon for their Ukrainian housekeeper, a war refugee.
* 1969 ''Operation Sippacik''
* 1969 ''Operation Sippacik''
* 1972 ''[[The Diddakoi]]'' (also published as ''Gypsy Girl''), a children's book and winner of the [[Whitbread Book Awards|Whitbread Award]]. Adapted by the [[BBC]] as a radio drama of the same name starring [[Nisa Cole]],<ref>{{Cite web|title = Rumer Godden - The Diddakoi - BBC Radio 4 Extra|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dhknc|website = BBC|access-date = 2015-11-05|date = 2013-09-16}}</ref> and for television as ''Kizzy''.
* 1972 ''[[The Diddakoi]]'' (also published as ''Gypsy Girl''), a children's book and winner of the [[Whitbread Book Awards|Whitbread Award]]. Adapted by the [[BBC]] as a radio drama of the same name starring [[Nisa Cole]],<ref>{{Cite web|title = Rumer Godden - The Diddakoi - BBC Radio 4 Extra|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dhknc|website = BBC|access-date = 2015-11-05|date = 2013-09-16}}</ref> and for television as ''[[Kizzy (TV series)|Kizzy]]''.
* 1972 ''The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle''
* 1972 ''The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle''
* 1975 ''Mr. McFadden's Hallowe'en''
* 1975 ''Mr. McFadden's Hallowe'en''
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===Poetry===
===Poetry===
* 1949 ''In Noah's Ark''
* 1949 ''In Noah's Ark''
* 1968 ''A Letter to the World'' (written with Emily Dickinson)
* 1968 ''A Letter to the World'' (based on the works of Emily Dickinson)
* 1996 ''Cockcrow to Starlight: A Day Full of Poetry'' (Anthology for Children)
* 1996 ''Cockcrow to Starlight: A Day Full of Poetry'' (anthology for children)
* 1996 ''A Pocket Book of Spiritual Poems''
* 1996 ''A Pocket Book of Spiritual Poems''

===Short stories===

*Possession<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.studocu.com/in/document/annamalai-university/english/possession-stories-from-the-east-and-the-west/31197339 | title=Possession - Stories from the east and the west - POSSESSION-Rumer Godden Dhandu an old peasant, who - Studocu }}</ref>


===Translations===
===Translations===
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==See also==
==See also==
* [[Paws and Whiskers]]{{snd}} 2014 anthology{{snd}} includes Godden's story about her dog ''Piers''.
* ''[[Paws and Whiskers]]''{{snd}} 2014 anthology{{snd}} includes Godden's story about her dog Piers.


==References==
==References==
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==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*Chisholm, Anne (1998), ''Rumer Godden: A Storyteller's Life''. New York: Greenwillow.
*Chisholm, Anne (1998), ''Rumer Godden: A Storyteller's Life''. New York: Greenwillow.
*Joseph, Margaret Paul. ''Jasmine on a String: A Survey of Women in India Writing Fiction in English''. OUP, 2014.
*Joseph, Margaret Paul (2014), ''Jasmine on a String: A Survey of Women in India Writing Fiction in English''. OUP.
*Le-Guilcher, Lucy and Lassner, Phyllis B, eds. (2010), ''Rumer Godden: International and Intermodern Storyteller''. Routledge.


==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|Rumer Godden}}

* [http://www.rumergodden.com/ The Rumer Godden Literary Trust]
* [http://www.rumergodden.com/ The Rumer Godden Literary Trust]
* {{IMDb name|323869}}
* {{IMDb name|323869}}
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[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:British people of colonial India]]
[[Category:20th-century British novelists]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century British women writers]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
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[[Category:British Roman Catholic writers]]
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[[Category:British women children's writers]]
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[[Category:British women novelists]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]
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[[Category:Costa Book Award winners]]
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[[Category:Narayanganj District]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Dumfries and Galloway]]
[[Category:People from Dumfries and Galloway]]
[[Category:People from Sussex]]
[[Category:People from Eastbourne]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
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[[Category:Narayanganj District]]
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[[Category:Roman Catholic writers]]
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[[Category:Costa Book Award winners]]
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Latest revision as of 18:49, 27 November 2024

Rumer Godden

OBE
Young woman with 1940s hairstyle
Rumer Godden, 1940s
BornMargaret Rumer Godden
(1907-12-10)10 December 1907
Eastbourne, Sussex, England
Died8 November 1998(1998-11-08) (aged 90)
Moniaive, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
OccupationNovelist, poet and children's story writer
Notable worksBlack Narcissus,
The River,
The Greengage Summer,
The Doll's House
Notable awardsWhitbread Award for Children's Literature (1972)
Spouse
  • Laurence Sinclair Foster
    (1934–1948)
  • James Haynes Dixon
    (1949–1973, his death)
Children2

Margaret Rumer Godden OBE (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998[1]) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films,[2] most notably Black Narcissus in 1947 and The River in 1951.

A few of her works were co-written with her elder sister, novelist Jon Godden, including Two Under the Indian Sun, a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region of India now part of Bangladesh.

Early life

[edit]
Cover of Black Narcissus (1939), published by Little, Brown & Co.

Godden was born in Eastbourne,[1] Sussex, England. She grew up with her three sisters in Narayanganj, colonial India (now in Bangladesh), where her father, a shipping company executive, worked for the Brahmaputra Steam Navigation Company.[3] Her parents sent the girls to England for schooling, as was the custom of the time, but brought them back to Narayanganj when the First World War began.

Godden returned to the United Kingdom with her sisters to continue her interrupted schooling in 1920, spending time at Moira House School in Eastbourne and eventually training as a dance teacher. She went back to Calcutta in 1925 and opened a dance school for English and Indian children.[3] Godden ran the school for 20 years with the help of her sister Nancy. During this time she published her first best-seller, the 1939 novel Black Narcissus.

Writing career

[edit]
The Greengage Summer (1958), 1962 Pan paperback edition

In 1942, after eight years in an unhappy marriage (one she entered into in 1934 because she was pregnant),[3] she moved with her two daughters, Jane and Paula,[4] (her husband Laurence Foster having joined the army)[3] to Kashmir, living first on a houseboat and then in a rented house where she started a farm. The novel Kingfishers Catch Fire was based on her time in Kashmir. After a mysterious incident in which it appeared that an attempt had been made to poison both her and her daughters, she returned to Calcutta in 1944. She returned to the United Kingdom in 1945 to concentrate on her writing, frequently moving house but living mostly in Sussex and London. She was divorced in 1948.[3] After returning from America to oversee the script for the movie of her book The River, Godden married civil servant James Haynes Dixon on 26 November 1949.

In the early 1950s Godden became interested in the Catholic Church, though she did not officially convert until 1968,[5] and several of her later novels contain sympathetic portrayals of Catholic priests and nuns. In addition to Black Narcissus, two of her books deal with the subject of women in religious communities. In Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy and In This House of Brede she acutely examined the balance between the mystical, spiritual aspects of religion and the practical, human realities of religious life.

A number of Godden's novels are set in India, the atmosphere of which she evokes through all the senses; her writing is vivid with detail of smells, textures, light, flowers, noises and tactile experiences. Her books for children, especially her several doll stories, strongly convey the secret thoughts, confusions, disappointments and aspirations of childhood. Her plots often involve unusual young people not recognised for their talents by ordinary lower- or middle-class people but supported by the educated, rich, and upper-class, to the anger, resentment, and puzzlement of their relatives. She won a 1972 Whitbread award for The Diddakoi, a young adult novel about Gypsies, televised by the BBC as Kizzy.[3]

Later life and death

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In 1968 she took the tenancy of Lamb House in Rye, East Sussex, where she lived until the death of her husband in 1973. She moved to Moniaive in Dumfriesshire in 1978, when she was 70, to be near her daughter Jane.[3] She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993. She visited India once more, in 1994, returning to Kashmir for the filming of a BBC Bookmark documentary about her life and books.

Rumer Godden died on 8 November 1998 at the age of 90 after a series of strokes; her ashes were buried with those of her second husband in Rye.[3]

Works

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Books for adults

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Fiction

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  • 1936 Chinese Puzzle, her first published book-length work
  • 1937 The Lady and the Unicorn
  • 1939 Black Narcissus, a story about the disorientation of British Anglican nuns in India; the first of her books to be adapted for the screen, as the film of the same name in 1947; a radio adaptation was also broadcast in 2008.[6][7][8] A BBC mini-series was announced in September 2019 and aired in late 2020.[9]
  • 1940 Gypsy, Gypsy
  • 1942 Breakfast with the Nikolides
  • 1945 A Fugue in Time, published in the US as Take Three Tenses, made into the film Enchantment in 1948 starring David Niven and Teresa Wright
  • 1946 The River, made into a film in 1951 directed by Jean Renoir; she collaborated on the screenplay for the film.
  • 1947 A Candle for St. Jude
  • 1950 A Breath of Air
  • 1953 Kingfishers Catch Fire
  • 1956 An Episode of Sparrows, made into the film Innocent Sinners in 1958
  • 1957 Mooltiki, and Other Stories and Poems of India
  • 1958 The Greengage Summer, made into a film in 1961
  • 1961 China Court: The Hours of a Country House
  • 1963 The Battle of the Villa Fiorita, filmed in 1965
  • 1968 Gone: A Thread of Stories (written with Jon Godden)
  • 1968 Swans and Turtles (short stories)
  • 1969 In This House of Brede, follows Philippa along with other cloistered Benedictine nuns in the abbey of Brede in Sussex, through Philippa's first years in the abbey; made into a 1975 television film starring Diana Rigg
  • 1975 The Peacock Spring, adapted for television in 1995
  • 1979 Five For Sorrow, Ten For Joy
  • 1981 The Dark Horse
  • 1984 Thursday's Children (Viking, New York)[10]
  • 1989 Indian Dust (written with Jon Godden)
  • 1990 Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love: Stories (written with Jon Godden)
  • 1991 Coromandel Sea Change
  • 1994 Pippa Passes
  • 1997 Cromartie vs. the God Shiva, her last novel

Non-fiction

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  • 1943 Rungli-Rungliot – republished in 1961 as Thus Far and No Further
  • 1945 Bengal Journey: A Story of the Part Played by Women in the Province, 1939–1945
  • 1955 Hans Christian Andersen (biography)
  • 1966 Two Under the Indian Sun (childhood memories – written with Jon Godden)
  • 1968 Mrs. Manders' Cook Book
  • 1971 The Tale of the Tales: Beatrix Potter Ballet
  • 1972 Shiva's Pigeons (written with Jon Godden)
  • 1977 The Butterfly Lions
  • 1980 Gulbadan: Portrait of a Rose Princess at the Mughal Court
  • 1987 A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep, an autobiography
  • 1989 A House with Four Rooms, an autobiography

Children's books

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  • 1947 The Doll's House, made into an animated series: Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House
  • 1951 The Mousewife
  • 1952 Mouse House
  • 1954 Impunity Jane: The Story of a Pocket Doll
  • 1956 The Fairy Doll
  • 1958 The Story of Holly and Ivy
  • 1960 Candy Floss
  • 1961 Saint Jerome and the Lion (retelling of the legend in verse)
  • 1961 Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, about Japanese dolls and the house built for them.
  • 1963 Little Plum, the sequel to Miss Happiness and Miss Flower
  • 1964 Home is the Sailor
  • 1967 The Kitchen Madonna: two children make an icon for their Ukrainian housekeeper, a war refugee.
  • 1969 Operation Sippacik
  • 1972 The Diddakoi (also published as Gypsy Girl), a children's book and winner of the Whitbread Award. Adapted by the BBC as a radio drama of the same name starring Nisa Cole,[11] and for television as Kizzy.
  • 1972 The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle
  • 1975 Mr. McFadden's Hallowe'en
  • 1977 The Rocking Horse Secret
  • 1978 A Kindle of Kittens
  • 1981 The Dragon of Og
  • 1983 Four Dolls
  • 1983 The Valiant Chatti-Maker
  • 1984 Mouse Time: Two Stories
  • 1990 Fu-Dog
  • 1992 Great Grandfather's House
  • 1992 Listen to the Nightingale
  • 1996 The Little Chair
  • 1996 Premlata and the Festival of Lights

Poetry

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  • 1949 In Noah's Ark
  • 1968 A Letter to the World (based on the works of Emily Dickinson)
  • 1996 Cockcrow to Starlight: A Day Full of Poetry (anthology for children)
  • 1996 A Pocket Book of Spiritual Poems

Short stories

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Translations

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See also

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  • Paws and Whiskers – 2014 anthology – includes Godden's story about her dog Piers.

References

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  1. ^ a b Guttridge, Peter (11 November 1998). "Obituary: Rumer Godden". www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. ^ "Rumer Godden Literary Trust homepage". www.rumergodden.com. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Chisholm, Anne (2004). "Godden, (Margaret) Rumer (1907–1998)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71256. Retrieved 11 December 2012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
  4. ^ Yarrow, Andrew L. (11 November 1998). "Rumer Godden, an Author Who Evoked Her Childhood in Colonial India, Is Dead at 90". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  5. ^ Tickle, Phyllis (2005), Introduction to In This House of Brede, Loyola Classics
  6. ^ Black Narcissus BBC Radio 4 FM, 25 February 2008 genome.ch.bbc.co.uk, Accessed 27 January 2021
  7. ^ 15 minute drama: Black Narcissus[failed verification]
  8. ^ Woman's Hour: Black Narcissus 21 December 2020 www.bbc.co.uk, Accessed 27 January 2021
  9. ^ "When is Black Narcissus on TV?". Radio Times. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  10. ^ Thursday's children / Rumer Godden Jisc library hub discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk, Accessed 27 January 2021
  11. ^ "Rumer Godden - The Diddakoi - BBC Radio 4 Extra". BBC. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Possession - Stories from the east and the west - POSSESSION-Rumer Godden Dhandu an old peasant, who - Studocu".

Further reading

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  • Chisholm, Anne (1998), Rumer Godden: A Storyteller's Life. New York: Greenwillow.
  • Joseph, Margaret Paul (2014), Jasmine on a String: A Survey of Women in India Writing Fiction in English. OUP.
  • Le-Guilcher, Lucy and Lassner, Phyllis B, eds. (2010), Rumer Godden: International and Intermodern Storyteller. Routledge.
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Media related to Rumer Godden at Wikimedia Commons

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