Thus Far and No Further
by Rumer Godden
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The book starts:
"There are only a few things in these notes:
-Chinglam and its hills and valleys
-Work
-Flowers
-Children
-Animals
-Servants
There is nothing else because there was nothing else."
Such an honest, understated opening. This is the story - notes from a diary - of a young woman (a writer & a mother) living a very unique and isolated existence during WWII: on a tea garden at the foot of the Himalayas. The notes are accompanied by drawings by some Tomtyn Hopman, though the writing itself is lyrical and imaginative enough.
The story is autobiographical (names changed or abbreviated) but the situation: young mother with children - absent husband - out of their element (as in, in a foreign place). . . it seems to repeat with other show more people's lives, though at the moment I can't think of any other than my own mother. . .
For the record (and to brag) I have the original version of the book, "Rungli-Runliot" published by London: Peter Davies.
Ultimately: it is a sweet little volume with some moving, exposing, sections - glimpses into Rumer Godden's thoughts and mind and state. . . show less
"There are only a few things in these notes:
-Chinglam and its hills and valleys
-Work
-Flowers
-Children
-Animals
-Servants
There is nothing else because there was nothing else."
Such an honest, understated opening. This is the story - notes from a diary - of a young woman (a writer & a mother) living a very unique and isolated existence during WWII: on a tea garden at the foot of the Himalayas. The notes are accompanied by drawings by some Tomtyn Hopman, though the writing itself is lyrical and imaginative enough.
The story is autobiographical (names changed or abbreviated) but the situation: young mother with children - absent husband - out of their element (as in, in a foreign place). . . it seems to repeat with other show more people's lives, though at the moment I can't think of any other than my own mother. . .
For the record (and to brag) I have the original version of the book, "Rungli-Runliot" published by London: Peter Davies.
Ultimately: it is a sweet little volume with some moving, exposing, sections - glimpses into Rumer Godden's thoughts and mind and state. . . show less
"Rungli-Rungliot means in Paharia" begins the title. Rumer Godden spent several months in a bungalow (Chinglam) on a spine of the upper Himalayas; this is her story of the life she found there.
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The author of Take Three Tenses spent a year, 1942-3, in a bungalow high in the Himalayas on a tea plantation. She expected to find loneliness in her retreat - but mountains, clouds and space were her companions. A great simplicity and calmness pervades this, her journal, and it is transmitted to the reader. Those who like to read of a strange life in a remote country will be charmed by this book.
added by KMRoy
Author Information
89+ Works 15,251 Members
Margaret Rumer Godden was born Dec. 10, 1907, in Sussex, England. She was nine months old when her family moved to India, where her father ran a shipping line. She returned to London at age 20 to learn how to teach dance to children, and opened a school back in India. Returning to England while she was pregnant, she wrote her first book, "Chinese show more Puzzle," published in 1936. Her marriage to a stockbroker, Laurence Sinclair Foster, ended in 1941, leaving her penniless. In an effort to pay off her former husband's debts, Godden moved her family into a mountain cottage where she ran a school, made herbal teas for sale, and wrote books. Another novel of India, "The River," published in 1949, was one of her most acclaimed books and was made into a film by Jean Renoir in 1951. She returned to England to stay in 1945. Rumer Godden was the author of more than 60 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry, plays and non-fiction. She published her 21st novel, "Cromartie vs. the God Shiva," in 1997. Rumer Godden died a year later on November 8, 1998, in Thornhill, Scotland, at the age of 90. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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