A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep

In her autobiography, Rumer Godden takes us through the years 1907 to 1946. She was the second of four daughters born to British parents who made their home in India. She tells magical stories of her life in India and how the colorful and lush country influenced her as a writer. The family seemed always to be traveling between England and India. The early part of her story is filled with the support of her warm and loving family. Her writing began as a child and continued throughout her life. Besides writing, she also loved to dance. As a young woman, she taught dancing and also ran several dancing schools.Her marriage to Laurence Sinclair Foster took place in 1934. He was a stockbroker and a good deal of his life centered around social and athletic interests. She gave birth to two lovely daughters, but she ended up being their sole support because her husband was constantly in debt and deserted his family. BLACK NARCISSUS, which was her first truly successful book was published in 1939. Europe was in a turmoil and World War II was about to begin. Not the best time to begin a career as a novelist.Godden spent the war years in Kashmir. She sustained her life and that of her children by renting Dove House which was an abandoned house far removed from the closest village. She grew her own food, and lived on very little money. Godden and her daughters suffered health problems because of the deprivation that they experienced during that time. Her strength and courage was impressive to read about. She wrote constantly and always spoke lovingly of her years at Dove House.The book ends with a very hopeful Rumer Godden arriving back in England with the finished manuscript of THE RIVER tucked under her arm.

In "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep" Rumer Godden powerfully evokes her childhood in India, the jolt of returning to England and to school, her beginnings as a writer, her debutante and young married years in India, her marriage and life as an "abandoned family" in India while her soon-to-be-ex-husband was in the army, and her brave and touching experiment of living with her daughters in Kashmir in 'Dove House', the house she loved more than any of her other houses. Her creative spirit and extraordinary lyricism shine through the pages.