Rumer Godden (1907–1998)

Did you know you can ruin a perfectly lovely, enjoyable book in the last 10 pages??? I found out you can.

[China Court] is the story of five generations of a family living in southwestern England. Their family home is named China Court because of the money their family made in trade with China in the 1800s. When Mrs. Quin, a family matriarch from the third generation, passes away, the family story begins to be explored. Adza and Eustace have eight children. "The brood" gives way to one son, his Irish wife and their children, one of who marries Ripsie (Mrs. Quin). Tracy, part of the fifth generation, returns for her grandmother's funeral. The writing swirls around these generations - Godden doesn't take the easy way out and write a dual (or quintuple!) timeline. Instead, stories give way to other stories up and down the timeline. There are enough cues to keep the reader pretty well-oriented. I was highly impressed by this. So much fun to read a novel with interesting characters and a masterfully managed plot and timeline.

And then, the end . . .
Terrible, really terrible. There's a strange stipulation in Mrs. Quin's will about Tracy marrying the man (Peter) who has been working a farm on China Court's land. At first it seems that Godden is going to somehow manage this into working in a somewhat acceptable manner. But then there is an out of place, violent, scene between Tracy and Peter that ends the book with a total acceptance of the violence - I guess as passion? I didn't get it. I was floored and upset.

This was so disappointing after I absolutely loved [In This House of Brede] and [The Greengage Summer]. Sad.… (mais)

I consider this book by Rumer Godden to be a good introduction to Gulbadan's story. Rumer Godden was not a historian and may have been excited when she read the "Humayun-Nama," written by Gulbadan-his sister.
The narrative is sparse, and you get glimpses of Gulbadan's character. Rumer Godden's British heritage the writing, especially when she writes about Gulbadan's (and Hamida's) reactions to Hindu customs.
While not an excellent or authoritative book, it is a good enough introduction to Gulbadan Begum's fascinating life.… (mais)

The book is a charming memoir. I hesitate to call it an autobiography. Jon and Rumer Godden wrote this memoir jointly of their childhood in India. They lived in India during the First World War, and their memory seems excellent.
There is an innocence in the writing, which is amazing, considering they wrote the book many years later. The two sisters create a wonderful atmosphere, and there are moments when you can almost smell the old mud of India and visualize the people surrounding them.
It is possible to visualize two young girls living in what is now Bangladesh and enjoying the Indian sun. They were not rich and wrote about their pecuniary constraints without affectation. The sisters compared life in India with life in England. When they sailed back to England, they could not (at first) accept England as home.
Most of us forget that, for many English people, India was home but not home.
A charming book, well worth reading if you want to get a glimpse of life in the Raj, through the eyes of young children.… (mais)

One of Rumer Godden's midcentury kids' stories about dolls. In this case, there is a little orphan girl named Ivy, and a little doll dressed for Christmas (Holly). Ivy is meant to be spending Christmas at the Infants' home because everyone else at the orphanage has been farmed out for the holiday, but instead she decides she is going to her non-existent grandmother's house is Aylesbury. Ivy wants a Christmas doll. Holly has just been put out for sale in the toyshop on Christmas eve, and she wants a Christmas girl. Mrs. Jones, the policeman's childless wife, is wondering about maybe Christmas being different this year. Despite the nasty negging of the stuffed owl Abracadabra, and with the assistance of the toyshop boy Peter, and a whole bunch of coincidences... a Christmas miracle happens.
The best part of this book is the description of the various toys, including the small stuffed velvet hippos, Mallow and Wallow, and the comfortably saggy elephant Crumple.… (mais)