New Releases by Rumer Godden

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

Three sisters battle poverty and prejudice in 1930s India in this heart-wrenching tale from a New York Times–bestselling novelist. Life is difficult for the three Lemarchant sisters in the latter years of the British Raj. Born of two cultures and rejected by both—the "half-caste" daughters of an Englishman and an Indian mother—twins Belle and Rosa and their younger sibling, Blanche, live with their widowed father and "Auntie" in an apartment in a crumbling mansion in Calcutta. Having grown to young womanhood in poverty—the result of their father''s indolence and society''s intolerance—tough-minded Belle is determined to improve her lot in life, even if it means compromising her principles and her pride. Her beautiful twin, Rosa, however, dreams of a different, grander escape and foolishly puts her faith in love. For Blanche, the entire world is the decaying estate the Lemarchants share with other Anglo-Indian outcasts. Rejected by her own siblings due to the darkness of her skin, the lonely little girl wanders the halls and grounds, enjoying the fantasy of a phantom pet while communing with ghosts only the purest of souls can see. An extraordinary novel rich in color and heartbreaking human drama, The Lady and the Unicorn is the poignant tale of one family''s struggle to make a future in a society blinded by prejudice and divided by caste. A powerful story of coming-of-age and coming to terms, it is a masterful fiction from one of the preeminent British authors of the twentieth century. This ebook features an illustrated biography of the author including rare images from the Rumer Godden Literary Estate.

Love, intrigue, and death ensue when a statue of a Hindu god is stolen from an Indian hotel in this masterwork from a New York Times–bestselling author. Sydney Cromartie is aghast when London officials inform him that his precious statuette of the Hindu god Shiva is in fact an artifact stolen from India, its mother country. But, despite the insistence of the Indian government, the irate Canadian art collector will not give it up without a legal fight. English barrister Michael Dean is thrilled to be assigned to a case that will allow him to return to his native India. Arriving at Patna Hall—the quaint seaside hotel on the Coromandel coast where the theft allegedly took place—he quickly launches into his investigation, casting suspicion on everyone, including the inn''s vivacious Anglo-Indian proprietress, Auntie Sanni. But there are complexities Dean never anticipated—and one very serious distraction: his emerging feelings for a mysterious archaeologist. Still, he must remain resolute, even if the facts he''s at risk of uncovering could lead to disappointment, disillusionment, even tragedy. In her final novel, award-winning author Rumer Godden returns to southern India and the charming beachfront resort that was the site of her popular Coromandel Sea Change. Based on a real late twentieth-century incident—when a Hindu god became, in essence, the plaintiff in a sensational legal case— Cromartie vs. the God Shiva is an unforgettable tale from a writer of "depth and sensitivity" ( Los Angeles Times) and "a novelist of many gifts" ( The Daily Telegraph). This ebook features an illustrated biography of the author including rare images from the Rumer Godden Literary Estate.

A hotel in southern India is home to a host of romantic intrigues and human misadventures in this delightful novel from a New York Times–bestselling author. Over a decade before The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, award-winning author Rumer Godden was delighting readers with the exploits of the residents and staff at a quaint getaway resort in southern India. Wily and winning Anglo-Indian hotel owner Auntie Sanni has entertained all manner of guests during her many years as hostess at Patna Hall, a popular vacation spot on the lush Coromandel coast. Now, with an election coming, business is especially brisk, and her hotel is packed with Indian politicians, British diplomats, journalists, American tourists—even a donkey, an elephant, and a woman of mystery or two. Among the vacationers are Mary and Blaise, a young English couple on their honeymoon. But where Mary is enchanted by the colors, sounds, and vibrant Indian life, prim and priggish Blaise sees only squalor, sordidness, and a Coromandel Sea teeming with sharks. Matters are only made worse when Mary becomes interested in local Indian politics—particularly the handsome, exquisitely spoken candidate Krishnan, whose kindness and wisdom are like a balm for her spirit. As tensions between the newlyweds continue to mount, even resourceful Auntie Sanni may not be able to forestall potential unpleasantness or prevent it from escalating into tragedy. The acclaimed author of Black Narcissus and The River returns readers once again to her beloved India with a novel brimming with heart, wit, unforgettable characters, and "a sense of timelessness reminiscent of E. M. Forster" ( The Times, London). This ebook features an illustrated biography of the author including rare images from the Rumer Godden Literary Estate.

Five nuns confront nature—physical and human—in a remote Himalayan convent in the bestselling novel that inspired the new FX miniseries. Under the guidance of Sister Clodagh, the youngest Mother Superior in the history of their order, five European Sisters of the Servants of Mary leave their monastery in Darjeeling, India, and make their way to remote Mopu in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. There, in the opulent, abandoned palace where an Indian general housed his harem, the holy sisters hope to establish a school and a health clinic. Their aim is to help combat superstition, ignorance, and disease among the mistrusting natives in the village below, and to silence the doubts of their royal benefactor''s agent, the hard-drinking and somewhat disreputable Mr. Dean. But all too soon, the isolation, the ghosts and lurid history, and the literally breathtaking beauty of this high, lonely place in the Asian mountains begin to take a serious toll on Sister Clodagh and her fellow nuns. And their burdens may prove too heavy to bear, exposing a vulnerable humanity that threatens to undermine the best intentions of the purest hearts. The basis for the Golden Globe and Academy Award–winning motion picture starring Deborah Kerr, as well as the new miniseries on FX starring Gemma Arterton, Black Narcissus has been universally praised for its poignancy, passion, and rich evocation of a time and place. An intensely human story of devotion, faith, and madness, this beloved novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of In This House of Brede stands among the finest fiction written in the twentieth century. "Bears comparison with A Passage to India." —Arthur Koestler This ebook features an illustrated biography of the author including rare images from the Rumer Godden Literary Estate.

From a New York Times–bestselling author: A novel of a woman''s journey from prostitute to brothel madam to murderess to nun in post–World War II France. A sense of adventure and an eagerness to savor life to the fullest impel young, orphaned Elizabeth Fanshawe to escape her cold, unloving home and enlist in the British Army as a driver in 1944. Dispatched to Paris at the close of the Allies'' war against the hated Nazis, she soon finds herself swept up in the intoxicating celebratory glee of the newly liberated French. But after she meets the charming, seductive Patrice Ambard, Elizabeth''s life takes a sharp turn down a very dark road. Her love for the dashing, hypnotic Frenchman draws Elizabeth, now called Lise, into Patrice''s world of crime and high-class prostitution, where she is broken, hardened, and then transformed into the whore-turned-notorious-madam known as La Balafrée, or the Scarred One. Still, her great fall will not be complete until circumstances drive her to commit a shocking murder—and imprisonment ultimately sets her free. A haunting tale of disgrace, degradation, and glorious redemption told in flashbacks from the convent of Belle Source, where Soeur Marie Lise of the Sisters of Bethany remembers her years of sin and her eventual salvation, Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is moving and powerful fiction from one of the most admired British novelists of the twentieth century. Rumer Godden, author of Black Narcissus and In This House of Brede, has crafted a truly transformative tale about faith, forgiveness, and the mercy of a loving God. This ebook features an illustrated biography of the author including rare images from the Rumer Godden Literary Estate.

It is Christmas Eve and, for the toys in Mr Blossom''s shop, it is their last chance to be sold. Holly, a small doll dressed especially for Christmas, wishes hard for her own special child. But the day ends and Holly is left in the window. On Christmas morning a little lost orphan girl finds herself outside the toyshop. Ivy has never had a doll to love, but when she sees Holly, she knows at once that this doll is meant specially for her. But Ivy has no money, and the shop is closed . . . The Story of Holly and Ivy is a Christmas classic by Rumer Godden, beautifully illustrated by Christian Birmingham.

An emergency meeting of the Mortimer Square Garden Committee has been convened to discuss a most alarming matter: Someone has been digging in the garden and making off with buckets of dirt. Miss Angela Chesney is sure that a gang of boys from run-down Catford Street is to blame. But Angela’s sister, Olivia, isn’t so sure. Olivia has always wondered why the neighborhood children—the “sparrows” she sometimes watches from the window of her house—are kept out of the private garden. Don’t they have a right to enjoy the place, too? But neither Angela nor Olivia has any idea what sent the neighborhood waif Lovejoy Mason and her few friends in search of good, rich earth. Still less do they imagine where their investigation of the incident will lead them—to a struggling restaurant, a bombed-out church, and at the heart of it all, a hidden garden.

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 story opens with the discovery that a revered eleventh-century statue of the Hindu god Shiva has gone missing from the old-fashioned Patna Hall hotel. It ends up in the hands of a Canadian art dealer, Mr. Cromartie, who takes it to London to be appraised by one of the world''s chief specialists in Oriental antiques, only to find it impounded by the British police. Insisting the statue was not stolen, Mr. Cromartie takes the case to court and a legal battle ensues. Michael Dean, a leading young lawyer, is sent from London to assume the case for the defense: the Indian government. There, he is instantly captivated by Artemis, an enchanting and graceful archaeologist staying at the hotel, who proves to be as elusive as the mystery of the theft he is investigating.

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.

Everyone is delighted when Lottie gains entry to the Royal Ballet School but she is dismayed when she realises that there will be noone to care for her new dog.___k_____

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

The second volume of Godden''s memoirs is the story of the author''s life afterher return from India to England with her daughters in 1945.

Terrible changes occur in the house where Tibby''s mother works, but although Tibby knows something that may make all the difference, she doesn''t feel she can divulge the secret.

As he tags along to his spoiled sister''s ballet classes, Doone discovers and develops his own rare and special talents.

Grade level: 4, 5, 6, e, i.

Kizzy is a diddakoi or half gypsy whose life becomes a nightmare for her after her Gran dies and she is violently bullied at school.

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.

The Godden sisters "have written of five years in their early lives when they were sent back to India to escape the bombs of W.W.I. They recall their lives in the village and its environs in what is now East Pakistan." Library J.

When their mother leaves the country to be with her lover, Hugh and Caddie Clavering''s seemingly perfect life falls apart. Devestated, 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 and Rob''s young daughter is only too glad to help destroy their relationship. Will Hugh and Caddie realise that their actions have consequences before it is too late?

A doll named Candy Floss is very happy serving as Jack''s lucky charm at his stall at the fair, until a spoiled rich girl steals her.

A tiny doll lives an adventurous life in a little boy''s pocket and as a member of a gang of boys.

A house mouse who thinks there must be more to life than looking for food and caring for her family befriends a lonely, caged dove.