Where to Start with Rumer Godden
Rumer Godden (1907-1998)
An acclaimed author of over sixty works of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children, Rumer Godden was born in England, she and her siblings grew up in Narayanganj, India, and she later spent many years living in Kolkata and Kashmir. Several of her novels were made into films, including Black Narcissus, The Greengage Summer and The River, which was filmed by Jean Renoir. She was appointed OBE in 1993.
‘Rumer Godden’s novels have a timeless shimmer’ Guardian
‘Her craftsmanship is always sure’ New York Times
‘One of our best and most captivating novelists’ Philip Hensher
‘[Godden’s] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal’ Rosie Thomas, Guardian
RUMER GODDEN READING GUIDE
Read on for a guide to the fourteen Rumer Godden novels Virago publish, in alphabetical order.
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita
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.
First published in 1963, this gorgeous coming of age story came to the Virago list in 2015. The Battle for the Villa Fiorita is being reissued with a beautiful new cover in August 2025 as part of our Innocence & Experience collection.
In 1965 it was made into a film, directed by Delmer Daves, starring Maureen O’Hara and Rossano Brazzi.
‘Her craftsmanship is always sure; her understanding of character is compassionate and profound; her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty’ New York Times
The Story:
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?
Black Narcissus
Rumer Godden’s stunning classic novel of devotion, faith and madness.
Black Narcussus was first published in 1939, it was Godden’s third novel. It was adapted into a 1947 film and in 2020 Amanda Coe released a TV series based on the book. Coe wrote the introduction to a reissue of Black Narcissus published as a Virago Clothbound Classic, November 2020. In 2021 Coe was a guest on the Ourshelves podcast, click here to listen to the episode where she talks about adapting novels for screen (like fancying someone on the first date) and explores the feminist texts that changed her life.
Black Narcissus was reissued February 2025 with a beautiful new cover as part of our Faith & Doubt Collection.
‘I envy anyone reading it for the first time’ Amanda Coe
The Story:
‘You have to be very strong to live close to God or a mountain, or you’ll turn a little mad . . .’
High in the Himalayas, the mountaintop palace shines like a jewel. Built for the General’s harem, laughter and music once floated out over the gorge. Now it sits abandoned, windswept and haunting – until Sister Clodagh and her group of nuns arrive to turn ‘the House of Women’ into the Convent of St Faith. Close to the heavens, the Sisters of Mary feel inspired, working fervently to establish their school and hospital. But the isolation and emptiness of the mountain begin to take a terrible toll, unleashing long-repressed passions with tragic consequences . . .
Breakfast with the Nikolides
First published in 1942, Breakfast with the Nikolides followed three years after Black Narcissus. It is a coming of age story, the tale of the loss of a young girl’s innocence. Though less well known, Breakfast with the Nikolides is easily as arresting as her better known novels. Breakfast with the Nikolides is being reissued with a beautiful new cover in August 2025 as part of our Innocence & Experience collection.
‘[Godden has] a genius for storytelling’ Evening Standard
The Story:
Cromartie vs the God Shiva
A revered effigy of the God, Shiva, is missing from the Patna Hall Hotel on south India’s exquisite Coromandel coast. Was it stolen, and to whom does it belong? Young lawyer Michael Dean, sent from London to argue the case for the defence, falls under the spell of Artemis, a graceful archaeologist who is staying at the hotel; but she proves as elusive as the mystery of the theft he is working on.
Her final novel, Cromartie vs The God Shiva is a magical, evocative exploration of art, love, class and greed set in Godden’s beloved southern India. It was first published in 1997,
The Dark Horse
‘All horses can walk – some badly, some well, but to a few is given a gift of movement feline in its grace, a slouching, flowing continuous movement that is a joy to watch. Dark Invader strode in glorious rhythm, his great shoulders rolling, muscles rippling along his flanks under the satin skin.’
Originally published in 1981, The Dark Horse is set in the 1930s and deals with deals with issues of redemption and prejudice. Virago reprinted this novel in 2014 and reissued it in February 2025 as part of our Faith & Doubt Collection.
The Story:
In 1930s Calcutta, a beautiful racehorse brings together a group of outsiders: John Quillan, a talented trainer ostracized for his marriage; Mr Leventine, the shrewd new owner of Dark Invader; Ted Mullins, his groom, whose career has been derailed by scandal; and Mother Morag, head of an order of nuns working with the city’s poor.
Sold in disgrace and shipped to India after a disappointing first season, the horse requires gentleness and careful handling – but soon becomes the firm favourite for the famous Viceroy Cup. Then, days before the race, Dark Invader disappears. When all seems lost, Mother Morag’s sharp wits and gentle wisdom may just be their salvation. . .
An Episode of Sparrows
‘A masterpiece of construction and utterly realistically convincing’ Jacqueline Wilson
Someone has been digging up the private garden in the Square. Miss Angela Chesney of the Garden Committee is sure that a gang of local boys is to blame, but her sister, Olivia, isn’t so sure. She wonders why the neighbourhood children – ‘sparrows’ she calls them – have to be locked out: don’t they have a right to enjoy the garden too?
Nobody has any idea what sends Lovejoy Mason and her few friends in search of ‘good garden earth’. Still less do they imagine where their investigation will lead them – to a struggling restaurant, a bombed-out church, and, at the heart of it all, a hidden garden.
An Episode of Sparrows was first published in 1955 and reissued by Virago in 2014. An Episode of Sparrows is being reissued with a beautiful new cover in August 2025 as part of our Innocence & Experience collection.
Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy
‘Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is about growth, choice, struggle, and the freedom of the soul’ Joan Chittister
Master storyteller, Rumer Godden, weaves a deeply moving tale of Lise’s prison sentence, her conversion and the agonising work among women whose traumatic experiences often outstrip even her own. Originally published in 1979, Five for Sorry, Ten for Joy is a story of disgrace and redemption. We reissued Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy with a beautiful new covver in February 2025 as part of our Faith & Doubt Collection.
The Sisters of Béthanie, a French order of Dominican nuns, dedicate themselves to caring for the outcasts of society – criminals, prostitutes and drug addicts. Lise, an English girl who after the liberation of Paris was employed in one of the city’s smartest brothels and rose to become a successful madame, finds herself joining the sisters. An inspiring and entirely convincing conversion story that shows how the mercy of God extends to the darkest human places.
A Fugue in Time
Ghosts past, present and future haunt an old London house in this masterful work of fiction – originally published in 1945 and reissued by Virago in 2013.
A different kind of ghost story, Rumer Godden’s poignant, stylistically brilliant A Fugue in Time is a story rich in wonder, imagination and heart – a favourite for the many devoted fans of the bestselling author of Black Narcissus and In This House of Brede. This passionate story of romance and tragedy inspired the classic film Enchantment starring David Niven and Teresa Wright.
Grizel Dane, a bold young servicewoman in the US army, arrives at the London home of her great-uncle Sir Rollo Dane, seeking refuge from the chaos of wartime. Through the old man, Grizel learns the surprising history of the Dane family and Lark Ingoldsby.
Orphaned by a train crash, Lark was taken in by the Danes as an adoptive daughter but soon found herself caught in a web of sibling rivalry, love and attrition. Selina Dane, racked with jealousy, sets out to destroy Lark’s dreams of love. When Grizel falls for Pax Masterson, a wounded airman, Rollo urges her to seize her chance for happiness, as he was not able to.
A century of a family’s history remains alive and vibrant within these walls, the events that defined their lives unfolding over and over again. But that living history is not ending quite yet, for the war is bringing a stranger from America to Number 99 Wiltshire Place to leave her indelible mark on it.
In this House of Brede
A vivid, moving and insightful portrait of religious community, In This House of Brede is one of Godden’s very best ‘convent novels’. Originally published in 1969, Virago first published In this House of Brede in 2013. Was reissued In this House of Breade in February 2025 with a beautiful new cover as part of our Faith & Doubt Collection.
The novel’s fictional setting, Brede Abbey, was modelled on Stanbrook Abbey, formerly located in Worcestershire. In the book’s introduction, Godden wrote that the characters were fictional but ‘many of the episodes are based on fact’ and credits the lives and sayings of Dame Laurentia McLachlan and Sister Mary Ann McArdle of Stanbrook Abbey. Godden’s introduction also thanks two other Benedictine abbeys: Talacre Abbey, in Wales and St. Cecilia’s Abbey in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight.
The Story:
‘The motto was Pax but the word was set in a circle of thorns. Peace, but what a strange peace, made of unremitting toil and effort . . .’
Bruised by tragedy, Philippa Talbot leaves behind a successful career with the civil service for a new calling: to join an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns. In this small community of fewer than one hundred women, she soon discovers all the human frailties: jealousy, love, despair. But each crisis of heart and conscience is guided by the compassion and intelligence of the Abbess and by the Sisters’ shared bond of faith and ritual. Away from the world, and yet at one with it, Philippa must learn to forgive and forget her past . . .
Kingfishers Catch Fire
Mesmerising and thoughtful, this Godden’s lesser-known classic evokes India’s uniquely beautiful landscape amidst a timeless tale of misunderstanding.
‘A haunting tale . . . the whole book burns with the beauty and poetry’ Evening Standard
The Story:
Sophie Barrington Ward, without a husband, with two children and very little income, is faced with making a new life. She arrives in the Eden of Himalayan Kashmir to set up home in a tumbledown cottage surrounded by flowers and herbs. Settling down to live quietly, frugally and peacefully with her new neighbours, she is unaware of the turmoil her arrival provokes as the villagers compete fiercely for her patronage. Sophie is determined to live with the Indians and like it. Pundit Pramatha Kaul, her wise landlord, shakes his head. Profit David, her merchant friend, warns her. But when Sophie’s cook makes a drastic bid to secure his position, the unwanted consequences are catastrophic . . .
The Lady and the Unicorn
In a crumbling Calcutta mansion, with faded frescos and a jasmine-covered garden, the Lemarchant family live, clinging to the fringes of respectability: neither Indian nor English, they are accepted by no one and exploited by all.
After only a day in India, Stephen Bright meets Rosa Lemarchant. In an ill-fitting dress once belonging to her sister, she is awkward, shy and couldn’t be more different from the stories he has heard of fast ‘Eurasian’ girls. Ignorant of Calcutta’s strict codes of conformity, he falls in love with Rosa and becomes enchanted by the building in which she lives, determined to uncover its secrets.
Mystery pervades this story of a memory-haunted house in old Calcutta, as secret as a sundial in a ruined garden.
Originally published in 1937, this novel was reissued by Virago in 2015.
‘Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty’ New York Times
Listen to the Nightingale
‘Never forget, Charlotte, you were born to be a dancer . . . Never forget. Promise.’
Before her ballet teacher died, Lottie promised Madame Holbein to be the dancer her mother never lived to become. Orphaned at birth, Lottie has been brought up by her aunt, and though she is loved, she is lonely. Then she finds Prince, a spaniel puppy, and discovers a love and loyalty that is boundless.
When Lottie passes the tough audition for Queen’s Chase, Her Majesty’s Junior Ballet School, everybody is thrilled – except, surprisingly, Lottie. She will have to board at school, and what will happen to her beloved dog? To choose between the two is breaking her heart.
The River
Intense, vivid, and with a dark undertow, The River is a poignant portrait of the loss of a young girl’s innocence.
‘The River will make you laugh, make you cry and, in its way, change you forever’ Julie Myerson
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.
The River is being reissues with a beautiful new cover in August 2025 as part of our Innocence & Experience collection.
The Story:
Harriet is caught between two worlds: her older sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a little boy. And the comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood – the sounds of the jute factory, the colourful festivals that accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the river on its journey to the Bay of Bengal – is about to be shattered by a tragic event.
Thursday’s Children
Doone Penny is a child with a gift – he was born to dance. But though others recognise his talent, there is little encouragement from his family. His mother preens over his pretty sister, Crystal, also a dancer, but fiercely competitive and vain. Doone’s father would never allow a son of his to have ballet lessons and his brothers think he’s a sissy.
But Doone has passion and ambition beyond his years. He knows he can succeed, if only he is given the chance. If he can make it into Queen’s Chase, Her Majesty’s Junior Ballet School, he’ll show them all . . .
Click here to get your hands on the Faith & Doubt collection for £35.00, available exclusively through the Virago Store.
