Reading: The River

[white_hart]

I read several of Rumer Godden's novels in my teens, and loved her delicate capturing of the transition between childhood and adulthood, so when I found a couple of her books in the Oxfam bookshop recently I couldn't resist buying them. The River is a very short book, the story of Harriet, the second child in a European family living on the banks of a river in East Bengal (based, as the introduction makes clear, on Godden's own childhood home), during the course of an Indian winter which is the start of growing up for her, bringing her first real experiences of birth, death, love and loss, as well as her discovery of a talent for writing. It's quite insubstantial, and I didn't love it as much as I loved some of Godden's longer novels when I read them, but it's beautifully written and perfectly captures the confusion and isolation of suddenly not being a child any more, but still not being a grown-up.

Comments

[nineveh_uk]

This reminds me that I've never read any Rumer Godden and really should change that. Do you have any top recommendations?

[white_hart]

I think my personal favourite, though it's a long time since I've read it, is The Greengage Summer (another young girl moving from childhood to young adulthood - a lot of the themes are the same as The River, though it's set in northern France rather than India), and I also really liked The Peacock Spring. I think other people would also recommend In This House of Brede (nuns in England) or Black Narcissus (nuns in India).

[slemslempike]

And the Greengage Summer has an Antonia Forest connection, which is why I read it I think.

[white_hart]

I think Godden reminds me a bit of Forest, actually. They both write about childhood/adolescence in a very adult way, while still being absolutely accessible to readers who are the same age a the characters.

[morgainex]

Bringing back memories. I dearly love An Episode of Sparrows. I must send my little bookworm cousin a copy.