Rumer Godden

The faded elegance of Les Oeillets, with its bullet-scarred staircase and serene garden bounded by high walls; Eliot, the charming Englishman who became the children’s guardian while their mother lay ill in hospital; sophisticated Mademoiselle Zizi, hotel patronne, and Eliot’s devoted lover; 16 year old Joss, the oldest Grey girl, suddenly, achingly beautiful. And the Marne river flowing silent and slow beyond them all . . . They would merge together in a gold-green summer of discovery, until the fruit rotted on the trees and cold seeped into their bones . . . The Greengage Summer is Rumer Godden’s tense, evocative portrait of love and deceit in the Champagne country of the Marne – which became a memorable film starring Kenneth More and Susannah York. In the preface, Rumer Godden explains how it came to be written. ‘An exciting tale, this novel has both charm and atmosphere, and Miss Godden recaptures with an easy unsentimental naturalness the unfocused vision of adolescence’ Evening Standard ‘One of the finest English novelists’ Orville Prescott

The Greengage Summer

In the days when it was the General’s ‘harem’ palace, ladies with their retinues and rich clothes could be seen walking on the high windy terraces. At night, music floated out over villages and gorges far into the early hours. Now the General’s son has bestowed it upon the disciplined Sisters of Mary. Beginning work in the orchards and opening a school and a dispensary for the mountain people, the small band of Sisters are depended for help on the English agent, Mr Dean. But his charm and insolent candour are disconcerting. When he says bluntly ‘This is no place for a nunnery’, it is as if he already knows their destiny . . . ‘Black Narcissus . . . bears comparison with A Passage to India ’ Arthur Koestler ‘A very remarkable novel indeed. One in a thousand’ Observer ‘The writing is lovely, subtle, gentle, humorous and apprehensive’ Hugh Walpole ‘A genius for storytelling’ Evening Standard

Black Narcissus

Tottie is a loving little wooden doll who lives with her family in a shoebox. The doll family are owned by two sisters, Emily and Charlotte, and are very happy, except for one thing: they long for a proper home. To their delight, their wish comes true when Emily and Charlotte fix up a Victorian dolls' house – just for them. It's perfect. But then a new arrival starts to wreak havoc in the dolls' house. For Marchpane might be a wonderfully beautiful doll, but she is also terribly cruel. And she always gets her own way . . .

The Dolls' House

Everyone in Kizzy's town hates her because she's half-gypsy - a diddakoi. But Kizzy doesn't care. All she needs is Gran and her horse, Joe. But when Gran dies and their wagon burns down, Kizzy is all alone. No one wants to look after her and her beloved Joe might get sent to the knacker's yard. Can Kizzy survive in a hostile world - and save Joe?

The Diddakoi

For more than half a century, Rumer Godden has been known as one of the finest and subtlest writers of our day (Saturday Review). Now one of her most endearing classics is being reissued for a new generation of readers. China Court is the story of the hours and days of a country house in Wales and five generations of the family who inhabited it.

The Hours of a Country House

China Court

Orphaned Ivy finds her Christmas wish fulfilled with the help of a lonely couple and a doll named Holly.

The Story of Holly and Ivy

Die meisten Leute erleben in einem ganzen Leben nicht, was den fünf Geschwistern in diesem einen heißen Sommer in Vieux-Moutiers widerfährt, da sind sich die beiden ältesten Joss und Cecil einig. Ihre Mutter ist unerwartet erkrankt, und die Kinder sind in dem in die Jahre gekommenen Hotel in der Champagne auf sich allein gestellt. Einzig der charmante Eliot nimmt sich ihrer an. Alle im Hotel, Erwachsene wie Kinder, erliegen seinem Charme; die kultivierte Mademoiselle Zizi, Besitzerin des Hotels, buhlt ebenso um Eliots Gunst wie die 16-jährige Joss, die plötzlich kein Kind mehr ist und den Männern den Kopf verdreht. Die Marne fließt still und langsam vorbei. Erst als die reifen Mirabellen von den Bäumen fallen, beginnen alle zu verstehen, dass auch dieser Sommer irgendwann enden muss.

Unser Sommer im Mirabellengarten

"The River is Rumer Godden's beautiful tribute to India and childhood, made into a film by Jean Renoir. And in a preface for this novel she explains how the classic tale came to be written. "So intense, so quietly demanding of attention, that at the time there will be nothing in your thoughts but a small girl in India, and the people and places that were her world"--Saturday review. -- "Harriet is between two worlds. Her sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a child. The comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood - the noise of the jute works, the colourful festivals that accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the river on its journey to the Bay of Benghal - is about to be shattered. She must learn how to reconcile the jagged edges of beginnings and ends... "--Publisher

The River

Sophie, a young English woman with two children, goes to set up home in fabulous Kashmir, finding a tumbled-down house in a valley carpeted with flowers below the Himalayas. Settling down to live there she is blissfully ignorant of the turmoil that her arrival produces. Sophies cook is finally prompted to take action and the consequences of his innocent plotting are catastrophic.

Kingfishers Catch Fire

Una and her younger sister Hal have been abruptly summoned to live in New Delhi by their diplomat father Sir Edward Gwithiam. From the first meeting with their new tutor and companion, the beautiful Eurasian Alix Lamont, Una senses a hidden motive to their presence. But through the pain of the months to come, the poetry and logic of India do not leave Una untouched. And it begins with the feather, a promise of something genuine and precious . . . In The Peacock Spring Rumer Godden evokes the magic of an India she knows so well – and all the bitter sweetness of loyalty and love. ‘One of the finest English novelists’ Orville Prescott

The Peacock Spring

The Battle of the Villa Fiorita

Gary Blythe

Miss Happiness and Miss Flower

Story of Holly and Ivy, The R/I

A near perfect portrayal of adolescence and loss of innocence set during one long hot summer in FranceWhen their mother is suddenly taken ill on holiday, five siblings are left to fend for themselves at the elegant, faded hotel, Les Oeillets. Under the increasingly jealous gaze of the glamorous patronne, Mademoiselle Zizi, the children gravitate towards her mysterious and charming lover, Eliot, for comfort. And, amongst the gnarled trees of the old orchards, thirteen-year-old Cecil watches from the sidelines as her achingly beautiful sister, Joss, is drawn into the heart of a toxic affair.A tense, evocative portrait of love and deceit in the Champagne country of the Marne, Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer is a hauntingly beautiful coming-of-age story.This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an introduction by the actress and novelist Jane Asher.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

When a mean-spirited jockey threatens the thoroughbred Dark Horse--the favorite for the Viceroy's Cup--Mother Morag, the superior of a group of nuns who tend Calcutta's poor, holds the key

The Dark Horse

Jon Godden

A poignant collection of short stories centers on India and its many facets, from the fabled India of old to modern India, from the rice fields of Bengal to the streets of Calcutta, exploriong themes of love, faith, and courage

Stories

Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

A Candle for St Jude

When Gem moves into The House Next Door, Nona and Belinda think she’s stuck up and vow to have nothing to do with her. But the beautiful Japanese doll in her window soon attracts their attention. They name her Little Plum because her clothes are decorated with plum blossom – but unlike Nona’s Japanese dolls, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Little Plum seems unloved and uncared for. Will the three girls ever become friends?

Little Plum

A poor old woman is rewarded for her kindness when she throws back into the lake a little fish purchased for her dinner.

Rumer Godden

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