Obituary: Rumer Godden

Rumer Godden

1907 – 1998

Rumer Godden wrote around 50 to 60 books (she lost track how many), some for adults, some for children and some which explore the transition from childhood to teenage years and which defy easy categorisation. Born in Eastbourne, Godden spent her childhood until the age of 12 in India. She has described her writing as ‘an effort to outdo’ her elder sister Jon who was ‘beautiful and talented’. Returning to India at the age of 17, Godden shocked public opinion by opening a dance school which was open to Eurasian children (at the time social outcasts for both European and Indians). She was much influenced by E M Forster’s A Passage to India. After an unsuccessful marriage, Godden was obliged to make a living as a writer. She began writing books for children, in which her recurrent theme – the loss of childhood innocence and the process of growing up and away – were marked. Her most memorable children’s book, The Diddakoi, is the story of gypsy girl who finds her way in a hostile society with the help of wealthy protectors. Godden saw her writing career as a river: ‘You let the tide take you and all the life of the river goes on around you.’