Most Popular Books by Rumer Godden

When she wins a scholarship to a famous ballet school, Lottie, an orphan reared by the costume mistress for a London ballet company, is torn between her lifelong dream and her love for a puppy.

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 of the plum blossom decorating her clothes - but unlike Nona''s Japanese dolls, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Little Plum seems sad, unloved and uncared for. Will the three girls - and the three dolls - ever become friends? A beautiful illustrated cover edition of Little Plum, Rumer Godden''s classic story about family and friendship.

The Peacock Spring is a beautiful and heartbreaking novel of loss of innocence and coming-of-age from Rumer Godden, the acclaimed author of Black Narcissus and The Greengage Summer. At fifteen and twelve, the daughters of diplomat have already seen more of the world than most girls of their age. But when Una and her younger sister, Halcyon, are summoned from their English boarding school to join their father in New Delhi, they encounter a reality unlike anything they have ever experienced. For Hal, India is a glorious adventure, filled with exotic sights and sounds, and a host of interesting new people. But Una feels like an outsider in this world of ingrained racial prejudice and cultural elitism left over from the days of the British Raj. Then Ravi, a young Indian gardener, brings a welcome light into Una’s life, relieving her sadness and loneliness with poetry and compassion. But what begins as a simple friendship soon blossoms into a love forbidden by society, threatening to end in scandal and disaster.

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.

A boy''s efforts to create an icon to please the family''s new maid helps him to make new friends and discover an artistic talent.

After Cat has her four kittens, she has to find suitable homes for them.

An illustrated retelling of the legend of Saint Jerome and the lion that he sheltered in his monastery.

A young girl and her pony befriend a dour farmer on the Scottish border.

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.

A young English ballet dancer, Pippa Fane, journeys to Venice with a touring company and discovers love, evil, and the vast complexities of the adult world.

Four evocative and moving works of fiction set in India from the New York Times–bestselling author of Black Narcissus—including her final novel. Having spent her formative years in colonial India, British novelist Rumer Godden would continue to return to that setting for inspiration throughout her career—from her best known work about five nuns in a Himalayan convent, Black Narcissus, to her final novel, Cromartie vs. the God Shiva. The four novels in this volume each reveal in their own way Godden’s “magical skill in conjuring up with a few suggestive details a veritable panorama of Indian life” (The New York Times). And, like all of Godden’s fiction, they “have one important thing in common: They are beautifully and simply wrought by a woman of depth and sensitivity” (Los Angeles Times). Cromartie vs. the God Shiva: In Godden’s final novel, inspired by a real event, the theft of a precious statuette of the Hindu god Shiva from a hotel in India leads to love, intrigue, death, and legal complications. Even as Sydney Cromartie, the Canadian now in possession of the statue, fights to retain ownership, British barrister Michael Dean is dispatched to Patna Hall on the Coromandel Coast (previously appearing in Godden’s Coromandel Sea Change), where everyone is a suspect, including proprietress Auntie Sanni, to solve the mystery. “A complex tale, fraught with mystery . . . Readers who enjoy far-away cultures will find this tale a treat.” —Library Journal The Lady and the Unicorn: Battling poverty and prejudice, the three “half-caste” daughters of an Englishman and an Indian mother live with their widowed father and “Auntie” in a crumbling mansion in 1930s Calcutta. Tough-minded Belle Lemarchant is determined to improve her lot in life, while her twin, Rosa, looks for escape in romance, and their younger, darker-skinned sibling, Blanche, wanders the halls and grounds, communing with ghosts. A powerful coming-of-age story in a society blinded by caste divisions, Godden’s novel is a heartbreaking human drama. “One of the delights of reading a Rumer Godden novel is the magnetic pull of the exotic settings, affecting readers and characters alike.” —Newsday The Peacock Spring: When Una, fifteen, and her twelve-year-old sister, Halcyon, are summoned from their English boarding school to join their diplomat father in New Delhi, they encounter an exotic new world, racial prejudice, and a calculating Eurasian governess, whose relationship with their father seems troubling in its intimacy. When Una becomes friends with Ravi, a young Indian gardener, their forbidden attraction threatens to end in scandal and disaster. “Ms. Godden . . . has a wonderful way with fictional children, tender and true and never sentimental.” —The New York Times Coromandel Sea Change: With an election coming, business is brisk at Patna Hall, a resort hotel on the lush Coromandel Coast in southern India. Anglo-Indian hotel owner Auntie Sanni has her hands full with Indian politicians, British diplomats, a journalist involved in espionage, a woman of mystery, and an English couple on their honeymoon whose new marriage is strained by their conflicting responses to India. As the nearby Coromandel Sea is teeming with sharks, so is Patna Hall brimming with adultery, blackmail, and intrigue. “[A] sense of timelessness reminiscent of E. M. Forster.” —The Times

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BLACK NARCISSUS AND THE RIVER ''One of our best and most captivating novelists'' PHILIP HENSHER ''[Godden has] a genius for storytelling'' EVENING STANDARD ''Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty'' NEW YORK TIMES When their mother leaves the country to be with her lover, Hugh and Caddie Clavering''s seemingly perfect life falls apart. Devastated by the sudden, bitter dissolution of their parents'' marriage and desperate for her to come back, the children travel alone to the Villa Fiorita on Lake Garda, determined not to leave without her. On arrival, they can tell Fanny and Rob are deeply in love, and their mother is happier than they''ve ever seen her, but the scheme lives on. Thankfully, Rob''s young daughter is only too glad to help destroy their parents'' relationship. Will Hugh and Caddie realise that their actions have consequences before it is too late? Told with wit and great empathy against a stunning evocation of the Italian countryside, Rumer Godden''s The Battle of the Villa Fiorita marks another coming of age classic for the highly acclaimed author.

A novel describing a day in Madame Holbein''s ballet school in London.

This book portrays the enormous diversity of life styles and the wide ranging ethnic differences among the peoples of India.

An account of two adolescent girls of an Anglo-Indian family in Bengal.

A young boy of Cyprus goes to work for the United Nations peace-keeping forces when his donkey becomes their property but refuses to work for them.

The doll that traditionally decorates the family Christmas tree becomes the good fairy to a clumsy and timid little girl. Grades 2-4.

The activities, sorrows, and joys of a family of dolls living in an old doll house are related from the dolls'' point of view. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

In post-war London, two street-tough children attempt to build a hidden garden, an act that awakens hidden courage in the children and profoundly disrupts the neighborhood.

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.

Brought up largely in India by unconventional parents, the author came to know the continent intimately. Educated in Britain she returned to India to continue her life. She starts a dance school for local children, marries a charming but weak man and after their abandonment, raises their two children on her own.

The mousewife was the perfect little housewife but she wanted more. One day a captive dove was brought to live in the house and the mousewife learns the meaning of altruism.

In this second autobiography the author describes the progression of her life as she leaves India with her two daughters and settles in London. She tells of her house moves, relationships and writing with characteristic wit and humour.

In many ways Doone, youngest of six, seems an unsatisfactory child, too dreamy to be trusted with the simplest message, a failure at school, always silent and scruffy. Inside his elf-like body is a burning passion to dance, strong enough to overcome any obstacles.