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Kingfishers Catch Fire
In colonial India, Sophie Barrington Ward, a recently widowed Englishwoman with two young children, tries to make a life for her family in a small village, but her disregard for local politics and customs results in a near-tragic misunderstanding
233 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
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About the author
Rumer Godden
153 books557 followersMargaret Rumer Godden was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably Black Narcissus in 1947 and The River in 1951.
A few of her works were co-written with her elder sister, novelist Jon Godden, including Two Under the Indian Sun, a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region of India now part of Bangladesh.
A few of her works were co-written with her elder sister, novelist Jon Godden, including Two Under the Indian Sun, a memoir of the Goddens' childhood in a region of India now part of Bangladesh.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
December 21, 2025
This book is definitely a slow starter, but is well worth the patience needed.
When the strong willed Sophie is widowed in the middle of the twentieth century, she moves with her two children to a more isolated part of Kashmir. Sophie, after paying her feckless husband's debts, has very little money to live on, but to the local villagers she appears wealthy. Of course she gets ripped off, but of more concern is how blind Sophie can be to anything she doesn't want to see...
I loved this book! Both Sophie and her elder child Teresa are brilliantly drawn and it is so interesting that stolid little Teresa can perceive things that her mother can't and won't.
Two of Godden's great strengths are in play here - evocative descriptions where you see, smell and taste things in this exotic land, along with the Barrington-Wards.
And her ability to show children as they are - which isn't always nice and adorable.
At the end there is a change in pace. I couldn't put this book down and read late into the night to find out the resolution of the Barrington-Ward's story.
This book ended up being a most satisfying read!
When the strong willed Sophie is widowed in the middle of the twentieth century, she moves with her two children to a more isolated part of Kashmir. Sophie, after paying her feckless husband's debts, has very little money to live on, but to the local villagers she appears wealthy. Of course she gets ripped off, but of more concern is how blind Sophie can be to anything she doesn't want to see...
At the invitation of the Schoolmaster they visited the school. Sophie looked at the boys sitting on the floor with their flimsy text-books and she asked why there were no girls. The Schoolmaster did not say he had enough trouble with the boys, instead he murmured, "This is a backward village. No one would think of sending their girls."
"They should," said Sophie. "My little daughter learns the same as any boy," and Teresa was thrust into unwilling prominence. All the boys looked at her with dislike; she made them feel belittled, but Sophie was unaware of any feeling. She gave five rupees to the school and Teresa's box of chalks. "There need is greater than ours," she said, and was thanked for her distinguished patronage.
"But they were my chalks," said Teresa.
I loved this book! Both Sophie and her elder child Teresa are brilliantly drawn and it is so interesting that stolid little Teresa can perceive things that her mother can't and won't.
Two of Godden's great strengths are in play here - evocative descriptions where you see, smell and taste things in this exotic land, along with the Barrington-Wards.
And her ability to show children as they are - which isn't always nice and adorable.
At the end there is a change in pace. I couldn't put this book down and read late into the night to find out the resolution of the Barrington-Ward's story.
This book ended up being a most satisfying read!
November 24, 2023
The vale, poets say, is set like a pearl between the mountains, a pearl of water and flowers; the water comes from the glaciers on the far snow peaks and runs through high alps and valleys where gentian and primula and edelweiss grow, through forests, down rapids till it falls to the vale floor and flows into its lakes and river and waterways.
Kingfishers Catch Fire is set in the beautiful mountain area of Kashmir, a place Godden knew well and one she used all her marvelous powers of descriptive writing to bring to life. If I had to name one thing that made this novel sparkle, those descriptions would be the thing!
The main character of the story is Sophie, a young widow with two children, who finds herself in rather tight finances and decides to take a house called Dilkhush in a Kashmir village and live a simple and inexpensive life. Unfortunately, Sophie has little to no understanding of what life is like for the people of the village she joins. She sees herself as poor, but the people see her as wealthy, so what ensues is a comedy of errors, but absent the laughter.
Sophie felt crushed. More than that. She was beginning to feel she was ringed round by something she did not understand.
Sophie’s biggest flaw is that she never listens to anyone, she just forges ahead. Others, both native and British, Hindu and Muslim, try to give her advice, and even her young daughter observes and learns about the customs and interactions of the village and tries to warn her mother, but Sophie is doggedly unheeding. This can lead to nothing but trouble, and it does.
There is a sense of mounting tension in the book that is remarkably well-done. Godden takes seemingly innocuous events, piles them atop one another, and escalates, while the reader feels a growing tightening of the throat.
I found it hard to like Sophie, and indeed hard to sympathize with her past a point. She is well-intentioned, but we all know which road is paved with those. At several points in the book I thought she lacked self-awareness and I abhorred her inability to understand her effect on others. At other times, I thought her the definition of selfish, not as she would have said, independent. I did have a grudging respect for her toward the end. She tried to learn from her mistakes and she took responsibility for them. Morals and a sense of justice go a long way with me.
I have rapidly become a fan of Rumer Godden. I have completed five of her novels this year and will continue to read them into 2024. I’m pretty sure she is going to be one of those authors about whom I will lament when I have exhausted the canon and know I will not ever again hear any new whispers from her voice.
Kingfishers Catch Fire is set in the beautiful mountain area of Kashmir, a place Godden knew well and one she used all her marvelous powers of descriptive writing to bring to life. If I had to name one thing that made this novel sparkle, those descriptions would be the thing!
The main character of the story is Sophie, a young widow with two children, who finds herself in rather tight finances and decides to take a house called Dilkhush in a Kashmir village and live a simple and inexpensive life. Unfortunately, Sophie has little to no understanding of what life is like for the people of the village she joins. She sees herself as poor, but the people see her as wealthy, so what ensues is a comedy of errors, but absent the laughter.
Sophie felt crushed. More than that. She was beginning to feel she was ringed round by something she did not understand.
Sophie’s biggest flaw is that she never listens to anyone, she just forges ahead. Others, both native and British, Hindu and Muslim, try to give her advice, and even her young daughter observes and learns about the customs and interactions of the village and tries to warn her mother, but Sophie is doggedly unheeding. This can lead to nothing but trouble, and it does.
There is a sense of mounting tension in the book that is remarkably well-done. Godden takes seemingly innocuous events, piles them atop one another, and escalates, while the reader feels a growing tightening of the throat.
I found it hard to like Sophie, and indeed hard to sympathize with her past a point. She is well-intentioned, but we all know which road is paved with those. At several points in the book I thought she lacked self-awareness and I abhorred her inability to understand her effect on others. At other times, I thought her the definition of selfish, not as she would have said, independent. I did have a grudging respect for her toward the end. She tried to learn from her mistakes and she took responsibility for them. Morals and a sense of justice go a long way with me.
I have rapidly become a fan of Rumer Godden. I have completed five of her novels this year and will continue to read them into 2024. I’m pretty sure she is going to be one of those authors about whom I will lament when I have exhausted the canon and know I will not ever again hear any new whispers from her voice.
May 17, 2016
While reading this I was thinking how much it reads like a memoir even though it is a novel. However, after reading the author's note it all makes sense. While this is fiction, the author draws much of the story from her own life experiences as a mother on her own with two young children as she attempts to live a peasant's life in India.
In the story, the woman Sophie is a widow (but not a sad one; in real life the author was divorced) and her husband leaves her destitute. She could go home to England but she loves India. So instead, she rents a "fixer upper" in Kashmir and thinks she and the children will just blend in and be happy.
But while reasonably fluent in Urdu, she is ignorant of station, caste and religion and this will have ramifications that leave no one untouched; consequences that almost cost them their life.
Another must read for India lovers.
Suitable for all readers
In the story, the woman Sophie is a widow (but not a sad one; in real life the author was divorced) and her husband leaves her destitute. She could go home to England but she loves India. So instead, she rents a "fixer upper" in Kashmir and thinks she and the children will just blend in and be happy.
But while reasonably fluent in Urdu, she is ignorant of station, caste and religion and this will have ramifications that leave no one untouched; consequences that almost cost them their life.
Another must read for India lovers.
Suitable for all readers
November 18, 2023
"He knew that Sophie was like a kingfisher herself, choosing some strange, unthought-of place for her nest, diving relentlessly for her private fish, then flashing out of sight."
"Kingfishers Catch Fire" has some autobiographical elements in the story since Rumer Godden lived in Kashmir in the 1940s with her two children. The descriptions in the book of this mountainous area in the northern Indian subcontinent are beautiful, and the misunderstandings between the British family and the locals seem authentic.
In the story Sophie is widowed, and has very little money left after paying off her deceased husband's debts. She rents a house in Kashmir and plans to live a simple life. The locals assume she is a rich woman, and take advantage of her ignorance by overcharging her for everything and stealing from her home. Sophie misjudges situations, including the animosity between the Hindus and the Muslims. Although the book starts slowly, the second half picks up when Sophie and her daughter each find themselves in dangerous situations.
I loved the other three Rumer Godden novels I have read, but it took me longer to warm to this story. Most of the characters were unreliable or dishonest, partly due to extreme poverty. Sophie created many of the unfortunate situations because she was idealistic, would not listen to advice, and didn't use good judgment. Her daughter, Teresa, seemed to understand their precarious situation but her mother did not take her seriously. So even though Godden's writing was lovely, it was frustrating to read about a woman who made one questionable decision after another. 3.5 stars.
"Kingfishers Catch Fire" has some autobiographical elements in the story since Rumer Godden lived in Kashmir in the 1940s with her two children. The descriptions in the book of this mountainous area in the northern Indian subcontinent are beautiful, and the misunderstandings between the British family and the locals seem authentic.
In the story Sophie is widowed, and has very little money left after paying off her deceased husband's debts. She rents a house in Kashmir and plans to live a simple life. The locals assume she is a rich woman, and take advantage of her ignorance by overcharging her for everything and stealing from her home. Sophie misjudges situations, including the animosity between the Hindus and the Muslims. Although the book starts slowly, the second half picks up when Sophie and her daughter each find themselves in dangerous situations.
I loved the other three Rumer Godden novels I have read, but it took me longer to warm to this story. Most of the characters were unreliable or dishonest, partly due to extreme poverty. Sophie created many of the unfortunate situations because she was idealistic, would not listen to advice, and didn't use good judgment. Her daughter, Teresa, seemed to understand their precarious situation but her mother did not take her seriously. So even though Godden's writing was lovely, it was frustrating to read about a woman who made one questionable decision after another. 3.5 stars.
March 16, 2021
Recently-widowed in Kashmir with two young children and a paltry pension, Sophie needs an affordable place to live. She chooses a house called Dhilkusha — ❝Ӎy heart is happy❞ — in a mountain village inhabited mostly by shepherds. And for a while, her heart is happy, or at least light-ish. But Sophie is self-absorbed and a bit careless, unable to stop spending money on pretty things, oblivious to the tensions between the Dar and Sheikh families in the village, and callous to the unhappiness of her elder child, 8-year-old Teresa. At some point, the tensions will snap.Rumer Godden is one of my all-time favorite authors. I developed a taste for her bittersweet tales when I read The Dolls' House 0670050482 over and over as a child, and I’ve admired her adult books just as much. It’s funny — I wouldn’t describe her books as something I ❝enjoy,❞ exactly. They’re not dark, but they’re full of twilight, loss, and aching. Every single one of her novels that I’ve read haunts me. But they are also beautifully written, simply and starkly, and yet with a vividness that allows me to step fully into them both as I’m reading them and when I think of them later. They’re each absolutely perfect in their knife-twisting inevitability. I finish the books convinced that there’s no way any of these stories could have turned out differently.
I avoided this book for years because the title made me think it was a romance, and I never bothered to read the jacket flap to find out otherwise. Oops. Because it is absolutely not a romance. (If anything, it is anti-romance.)
Sophie is a flawed character, not especially ❝likable,❞ at least not to me. All that overspending made me cringe, and her lack of sensitivity to her children and neighbors was painful. But at the same time, she seems very genuine. It’s just that being truly in someone else’s head, with no filter, is a bit jarring, and also a bit queasy-making: I always wonder if I would come across as any more likable if anyone could read all my thoughts and reactions, and end up certain that I probably would not. And Sophie does have some charms, especially her determination to find beauty and joy in the world. She may spend too much money on pretty things, but she absolutely loves and appreciates those things. Mostly, she is just another human being trying to make her way in the world as best she can, even if that way seems awfully strewn with foibles. I was rooting for her, even as I kept figuratively covering my eyes and muttering, ❝No, no, no,❞ at her.
My thanks to the Retro Reads GR group for making me take a closer look at this book and read it at long last. It will stick me as tightly as everything else I’ve read by Rumer Godden
January 8, 2021
Sophie is estranged from her husband when she is unexpectedly widowed, leaving her with two young children and no money. A willful woman prone to violent enthusiasms, she decides to live as a peasant in Kashmir rather than return to the safety of her family in England. She is blind to any reality but the one she imagines in her own mind, so she is completely unaware of the devastating effects her appearance and behavior have on the local people. The writing here is subtle; details and small events give the reader clues about larger things that are happening, like a pebble that augurs the beginning of an avalanche.
I would give the writing four stars at least, but I found Sophie so intensely annoying that it wasn't an all together pleasant read for me. Some of the themes explored include the relative value of self-respect, the nature of poverty in different cultures, and the importance of facing up to life. Should one have faith in himself even when he has constantly caused disasters?
Thanks to the retro reads group for introducing me to this interesting book.
I would give the writing four stars at least, but I found Sophie so intensely annoying that it wasn't an all together pleasant read for me. Some of the themes explored include the relative value of self-respect, the nature of poverty in different cultures, and the importance of facing up to life. Should one have faith in himself even when he has constantly caused disasters?
Thanks to the retro reads group for introducing me to this interesting book.
February 2, 2014
I do think Rumer Godden is an excellent writer – her depictions of childhood in novels such as Greengage Summer, The River and Breakfast with the Nikolides are extraordinarily vivid. While her novels of British life in India such as Coromandel Sea Change and The Peacock Spring mean I always associate her with India, although not all her novels are set there. She was a prolific writer, and so I still have many to read, I am thankful to say. Kingfishers Catch fire was obviously written in the wake of her own experience of living with her children in an isolated house in Kashmir. This book contains a few pages of Rumer Godden’s winter diary from that time – her descriptions of landscape, weather and costumes finding their way wholesale into her novel.
Sophie arrives in Kashmir to live alone with her two young children, the bright, but fearful Teresa and Moo (to who Godden never gives a voice). Initially they live on a houseboat, where Sophie learns of her estranged husband’s death. Almost immediately Sophie becomes ill, and the family are required to live at the Mission Hospital while Sophie recovers, a place where Dr Glenister, (Little) Dr Lochinvar and sisters Pilkington and Locke look after them making Teresa feel safe. Once when Sophie was still living with her husband the family had lived in Camberley – a place Teresa associates with safety a place a little like Finstead where The Aunts live, who send letters, advice, a small doll and plenty of disapproval.
Sophie already has a dream of how she and the children will live in Kashmir and as soon as she is back on her feet she puts her plan into action. Taking a small ramshackle house called Dilkhush for a nominal rent (pledging to undertake repairs herself) she plans to set up home in this isolated place during the harsh Kashmiri winter. Her plan is greeted by concern and disbelief by the westerners at the Mission Hospital who regard the Pundit (whose house she has taken) and other locals Sophie has befriended with suspicion. They are not the only ones to be concerned, eight year old Teresa does not share Sophie’s enthusiasm – she sees trouble ahead – understands much that her mother fails to see. For Sophie is blinded by her own enthusiasms – she is determined that they can live simply and frugally. Time and time again, Sophie shows she doesn’t really appreciate the deep poverty around her, fairly penniless herself Sophie believes herself to be as one with the people of the nearby village, thinking she can live as simply as they do. Her egotism and obstinate inverted snobbery prevents her from understanding how the local people exist, and how dangerous their jealousies and rivalries could become. Sophie’s arrival has caused great turmoil in the village – as the two warring families of the area compete for her attention and money.
“To the Pundit, Sophie was precisely like any other European or American, only more friendly; the friendliness alarmed him. ‘These people are poor and simple…’ he began, but Sophie interrupted him.
‘We shall be poor and simple too,’ she said with shining eyes.
‘But madam, the peasants are rapacious...’
To that Sophie would not listen. Like many people there were some words about which she was sentimental; one of these was ‘peasant’ ‘Peasants are simple and honest and kindly and quiet,’ she said. ‘They don’t want what they don’t possess. They have the wisdom to stay simple. They don’t want to change.’ In a way that was true. Here in Kashmir the boys on the mountains with the flocks looked biblical with their dark curly hair, loose robes and round caps; the ploughs were primitive as were the cooking-pots, the water jars, the fishing spears, the very boats; ‘Primitive and beautiful’ said Sophie. The women like the women of old, fetched water and pounded grain and ground it in a hand-mill and spun their flax and wool; the men smoked the same water pipes as their grandfathers. ‘How picturesque they are!’ said Sophie admiringly.”
As winter turns to spring and eventually to summer, the two local village families, the Dars and the Sheikhs become increasingly competitive. Using the local herbs, Sophie has taken to making her own medicine, with which she means to treat the villagers’ ailments, taking business away from the village barber. Sophie’s cook, Sultan, meanwhile is enjoying his position, creaming small amounts of money off the top Sultan now has a nice new jacket, he struts around importantly and is determined that Sophie should learn to properly appreciate him. The local herd children, who come up the mountain to tend their families’ animals, fill Teresa with fear, a fear her mother dismisses. Sophie remains blissfully unaware of all that threatens her and her children, as things take an altogether darker turn.
Sophie is not an entirely sympathetic character, her casual neglect of her children, as she exposes them to more and more danger while she pursues her unrealistic enthusiasms, make for uncomfortable reading. Young Teresa is something of a little heroine, she is the grown up to Sophie’s petulant child. In the background there hovers a potential rescuer from home, but the reader can’t quite imagine Sophie living conventionally in Camberley or Finstead. I won’t reveal just how the story ends – but Sophie has to wake up to some harsh realities before she can decide in which direction her future lies.
This was a brilliant book; Rumer Godden brings the region to life evocatively while showing that she deeply understands her characters. I think Godden writes about childhood extraordinarily well, with great poignancy she describes the fears of childhood, and how terrible it is to be let down by the adults who should know better.
Sophie arrives in Kashmir to live alone with her two young children, the bright, but fearful Teresa and Moo (to who Godden never gives a voice). Initially they live on a houseboat, where Sophie learns of her estranged husband’s death. Almost immediately Sophie becomes ill, and the family are required to live at the Mission Hospital while Sophie recovers, a place where Dr Glenister, (Little) Dr Lochinvar and sisters Pilkington and Locke look after them making Teresa feel safe. Once when Sophie was still living with her husband the family had lived in Camberley – a place Teresa associates with safety a place a little like Finstead where The Aunts live, who send letters, advice, a small doll and plenty of disapproval.
Sophie already has a dream of how she and the children will live in Kashmir and as soon as she is back on her feet she puts her plan into action. Taking a small ramshackle house called Dilkhush for a nominal rent (pledging to undertake repairs herself) she plans to set up home in this isolated place during the harsh Kashmiri winter. Her plan is greeted by concern and disbelief by the westerners at the Mission Hospital who regard the Pundit (whose house she has taken) and other locals Sophie has befriended with suspicion. They are not the only ones to be concerned, eight year old Teresa does not share Sophie’s enthusiasm – she sees trouble ahead – understands much that her mother fails to see. For Sophie is blinded by her own enthusiasms – she is determined that they can live simply and frugally. Time and time again, Sophie shows she doesn’t really appreciate the deep poverty around her, fairly penniless herself Sophie believes herself to be as one with the people of the nearby village, thinking she can live as simply as they do. Her egotism and obstinate inverted snobbery prevents her from understanding how the local people exist, and how dangerous their jealousies and rivalries could become. Sophie’s arrival has caused great turmoil in the village – as the two warring families of the area compete for her attention and money.
“To the Pundit, Sophie was precisely like any other European or American, only more friendly; the friendliness alarmed him. ‘These people are poor and simple…’ he began, but Sophie interrupted him.
‘We shall be poor and simple too,’ she said with shining eyes.
‘But madam, the peasants are rapacious...’
To that Sophie would not listen. Like many people there were some words about which she was sentimental; one of these was ‘peasant’ ‘Peasants are simple and honest and kindly and quiet,’ she said. ‘They don’t want what they don’t possess. They have the wisdom to stay simple. They don’t want to change.’ In a way that was true. Here in Kashmir the boys on the mountains with the flocks looked biblical with their dark curly hair, loose robes and round caps; the ploughs were primitive as were the cooking-pots, the water jars, the fishing spears, the very boats; ‘Primitive and beautiful’ said Sophie. The women like the women of old, fetched water and pounded grain and ground it in a hand-mill and spun their flax and wool; the men smoked the same water pipes as their grandfathers. ‘How picturesque they are!’ said Sophie admiringly.”
As winter turns to spring and eventually to summer, the two local village families, the Dars and the Sheikhs become increasingly competitive. Using the local herbs, Sophie has taken to making her own medicine, with which she means to treat the villagers’ ailments, taking business away from the village barber. Sophie’s cook, Sultan, meanwhile is enjoying his position, creaming small amounts of money off the top Sultan now has a nice new jacket, he struts around importantly and is determined that Sophie should learn to properly appreciate him. The local herd children, who come up the mountain to tend their families’ animals, fill Teresa with fear, a fear her mother dismisses. Sophie remains blissfully unaware of all that threatens her and her children, as things take an altogether darker turn.
Sophie is not an entirely sympathetic character, her casual neglect of her children, as she exposes them to more and more danger while she pursues her unrealistic enthusiasms, make for uncomfortable reading. Young Teresa is something of a little heroine, she is the grown up to Sophie’s petulant child. In the background there hovers a potential rescuer from home, but the reader can’t quite imagine Sophie living conventionally in Camberley or Finstead. I won’t reveal just how the story ends – but Sophie has to wake up to some harsh realities before she can decide in which direction her future lies.
This was a brilliant book; Rumer Godden brings the region to life evocatively while showing that she deeply understands her characters. I think Godden writes about childhood extraordinarily well, with great poignancy she describes the fears of childhood, and how terrible it is to be let down by the adults who should know better.
January 25, 2021
This novel has a wonderful setting in the beautiful mountainous region of Kashmir in northern India, not long after the Second World War.
An English widow with two young children and a highly idealized vision of living "like a peasant" moves to a small rural village, and runs into all kinds of difficulties through her blindness to reality. Her financial status is a far cry from the real poverty that exists, and the villagers are divided into camps on religious grounds, both of them vying for her attention and her largesse.
She persists in thinking of the villagers as peace-loving simpletons without appreciating the human passions that drive them. Ultimately this sets the scene for a terrible confrontation.
The characters are so well-drawn, including the Indians and the two children, that one feels they must have lived somewhere, sometime. And finally, this book really highlights the Westerner's folly of pretending to understand another way of life.
Since this novel was loosely based on the author's personal experience, I'm now looking forward to reading Rumer Godden's biography.
An English widow with two young children and a highly idealized vision of living "like a peasant" moves to a small rural village, and runs into all kinds of difficulties through her blindness to reality. Her financial status is a far cry from the real poverty that exists, and the villagers are divided into camps on religious grounds, both of them vying for her attention and her largesse.
She persists in thinking of the villagers as peace-loving simpletons without appreciating the human passions that drive them. Ultimately this sets the scene for a terrible confrontation.
The characters are so well-drawn, including the Indians and the two children, that one feels they must have lived somewhere, sometime. And finally, this book really highlights the Westerner's folly of pretending to understand another way of life.
Since this novel was loosely based on the author's personal experience, I'm now looking forward to reading Rumer Godden's biography.
March 27, 2014
I could not believe this was written sixty years ago. To me, it read like contemporary fiction: an independent woman takes on a vainglorious project and has endless miscommunications due to her lack of cultural awareness. I first heard about the book in a BBC documentary about the author where she discussed the real life drama that inspired the book. So I knew where it was going.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a novel with an omniscient narrator who is as unlimited as this one. There is a lot of “Toby later said,” and “When it was all over,” which flash us forward to the end (or what we anticipate will be the end). But there are also moments where the narrator tells us what Theresa would have said if she were an adult instead of a child, which give us a feeling for what her overall relationship with Sophie will probably be like. At one point we are privy to Sophie’s thoughts, and her internal monologue is presented wryly with, “Sophie said to Sophie.” We are also told what someone not present would have said if they had been there, such as Prophet David, who would have commented that “A queen has her favorites,” when Nabir’s relationship with Sophie is dissembling. The narrator occasionally editorializes on Sophie’s decision making process, saying that no sooner had she figured out what she was going to do this year than she had moved on to the next. It is amazing since the narrator is Rumer Godden the writer, and Sophie is based on Rumer Godden. So perhaps “Sophie said to Sophie” is apt throughout. That Godden is primarily concerned with Sophie’s inability to comprehend the poverty around her or to navigate the social nuance of the various types of people is to me Godden performing a searching and fearless inventory on her own impulses and choices during the time which inspired the novel.
I think it’s criminal that Godden is so underrated, although I have only read this one book. I shall certainly read more soon.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a novel with an omniscient narrator who is as unlimited as this one. There is a lot of “Toby later said,” and “When it was all over,” which flash us forward to the end (or what we anticipate will be the end). But there are also moments where the narrator tells us what Theresa would have said if she were an adult instead of a child, which give us a feeling for what her overall relationship with Sophie will probably be like. At one point we are privy to Sophie’s thoughts, and her internal monologue is presented wryly with, “Sophie said to Sophie.” We are also told what someone not present would have said if they had been there, such as Prophet David, who would have commented that “A queen has her favorites,” when Nabir’s relationship with Sophie is dissembling. The narrator occasionally editorializes on Sophie’s decision making process, saying that no sooner had she figured out what she was going to do this year than she had moved on to the next. It is amazing since the narrator is Rumer Godden the writer, and Sophie is based on Rumer Godden. So perhaps “Sophie said to Sophie” is apt throughout. That Godden is primarily concerned with Sophie’s inability to comprehend the poverty around her or to navigate the social nuance of the various types of people is to me Godden performing a searching and fearless inventory on her own impulses and choices during the time which inspired the novel.
I think it’s criminal that Godden is so underrated, although I have only read this one book. I shall certainly read more soon.
May 3, 2019
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
* * * * *
Rumer Godden takes the title of her book from Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem. . . .in this story of Kashmir and a country to which I’ve always held off at a distance, I think this may be the closest I’ve ever truly been. . . and it was doable. I’m just starting my adventure into Godden’s works, and I’m enjoying her character development, especially her generous display of the conflicts within one character – their beauty marks and their warts.
I cared about all the people in the book, and saw the problem, as Sophie didn’t, as Teresa did, as even Moo did.
Here’s my true confession: I’m an end of the book reader. I truly do not want to spend time reading a book that 1) I can guess the end to at the end of the 2nd page; or, 2) that ends in a way I genuinely do not agree with and can so determine by a read of the last page. I don’t do every book that way, but if there is a question, I will zip back to that last page and read it before launching into a book with commitment. Because I’m one of those that once launched, cannot unlaunch if I’m very many pages in. . . .so. . .this was one of those. Sophie seemed extraordinarily self-absorbed as a human and especially as a mother, and Teresa was extraordinarily adult for a kid, with adult preferences and concerns all in the first few paragraphs. So I zipped back. Read the last paragraph. I liked it and it made no sense in relation to the first page. Went up a few more paragraphs, read the entire last page and still it felt like a satisfactory end, but still couldn’t get from the first page to the last and that meant. . . well, reading it all.
Having got there today, yes. A totally satisfying read. And so lovely. . . .descriptions of place and reactions of senses to that place, just absolutely lovely. There are terrible things that happen, that grabbed my attention. I was very concerned that injustice would go unaddressed, that my personhood sensibilities were being trampled on after all, worries for Sophie’s kiddos, and would all be overcome under the cliché blanket of romance. My concerns were answered handily, not wholly, but enough to satisfy, and in some cases with a resounding thump. Sophie is Sophie and will always be Sophie. I felt all of a sudden that she was me, and relevant, and yea, I do that stuff, too.
There are passages in books that catch on the thorns of your mind. . . .and stick even in the wind. Here’s what stuck from this book:
(BACKGROUND FOR QUOTE: Sophie is in a Catholic Mission hospital bed, after a nun has discussed with her the Mohammedan month of fast “Ramzan” near the new country place of Dhilkusha to which she has recently moved. From her (Christian) window/perch she sees on the hillside the Hindu temple of Tahkt-el-sulie-man, and below in the valley. . . “alive in their narrow houses, dead in their narrow graves were the Mohammedans. Beside the graveyard the Mission Hospital stood, and the missionaries tried to tend and care for the people, Mohammedans and Hindus alike”. . .but lying in the bed with a long-term illness Sophie comes to the conclusion that all the Christian activity around her is “. . .not with them; it’s trying to shut them out,. . .”)
“Why do religions have edges?” asked Teresa. Sophie felt those edges now. She went into the Mission chapel. It was a small whitewashed room with deal pews, a strip of blue carpet, a carved lectern, and an altar; on the altar were brass vases filled with holly, and, between them, a brass cross. It was a little refuge of holiness and quiet in the press and hurry and alarms of the hospital.
“God is here,” said the printed text on the wall. “Yes,” said Sophie. “But,” she asked, “isn’t He everywhere? Then why do they make Him little?” And she thought of those edges, pressing against each other, hurting, jarring, offending, barring one human being from another, shutting away their understanding and their souls.
Yet if you have no edges, thought Sophie, how lonely, how drifting, you must consent to be.”
A perfect description of that moment when cultures who label all as "Others" unless and until they submit to the One Right Way bump into each other - and how that is often when one is claiming the territory (no matter how politely and for their own good) of the Others until it is Ours. . . .
I recommend highly. Written in the 50’s it is in the context of that time.
BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
* * * * *
Rumer Godden takes the title of her book from Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem. . . .in this story of Kashmir and a country to which I’ve always held off at a distance, I think this may be the closest I’ve ever truly been. . . and it was doable. I’m just starting my adventure into Godden’s works, and I’m enjoying her character development, especially her generous display of the conflicts within one character – their beauty marks and their warts.
I cared about all the people in the book, and saw the problem, as Sophie didn’t, as Teresa did, as even Moo did.
Here’s my true confession: I’m an end of the book reader. I truly do not want to spend time reading a book that 1) I can guess the end to at the end of the 2nd page; or, 2) that ends in a way I genuinely do not agree with and can so determine by a read of the last page. I don’t do every book that way, but if there is a question, I will zip back to that last page and read it before launching into a book with commitment. Because I’m one of those that once launched, cannot unlaunch if I’m very many pages in. . . .so. . .this was one of those. Sophie seemed extraordinarily self-absorbed as a human and especially as a mother, and Teresa was extraordinarily adult for a kid, with adult preferences and concerns all in the first few paragraphs. So I zipped back. Read the last paragraph. I liked it and it made no sense in relation to the first page. Went up a few more paragraphs, read the entire last page and still it felt like a satisfactory end, but still couldn’t get from the first page to the last and that meant. . . well, reading it all.
Having got there today, yes. A totally satisfying read. And so lovely. . . .descriptions of place and reactions of senses to that place, just absolutely lovely. There are terrible things that happen, that grabbed my attention. I was very concerned that injustice would go unaddressed, that my personhood sensibilities were being trampled on after all, worries for Sophie’s kiddos, and would all be overcome under the cliché blanket of romance. My concerns were answered handily, not wholly, but enough to satisfy, and in some cases with a resounding thump. Sophie is Sophie and will always be Sophie. I felt all of a sudden that she was me, and relevant, and yea, I do that stuff, too.
There are passages in books that catch on the thorns of your mind. . . .and stick even in the wind. Here’s what stuck from this book:
(BACKGROUND FOR QUOTE: Sophie is in a Catholic Mission hospital bed, after a nun has discussed with her the Mohammedan month of fast “Ramzan” near the new country place of Dhilkusha to which she has recently moved. From her (Christian) window/perch she sees on the hillside the Hindu temple of Tahkt-el-sulie-man, and below in the valley. . . “alive in their narrow houses, dead in their narrow graves were the Mohammedans. Beside the graveyard the Mission Hospital stood, and the missionaries tried to tend and care for the people, Mohammedans and Hindus alike”. . .but lying in the bed with a long-term illness Sophie comes to the conclusion that all the Christian activity around her is “. . .not with them; it’s trying to shut them out,. . .”)
“Why do religions have edges?” asked Teresa. Sophie felt those edges now. She went into the Mission chapel. It was a small whitewashed room with deal pews, a strip of blue carpet, a carved lectern, and an altar; on the altar were brass vases filled with holly, and, between them, a brass cross. It was a little refuge of holiness and quiet in the press and hurry and alarms of the hospital.
“God is here,” said the printed text on the wall. “Yes,” said Sophie. “But,” she asked, “isn’t He everywhere? Then why do they make Him little?” And she thought of those edges, pressing against each other, hurting, jarring, offending, barring one human being from another, shutting away their understanding and their souls.
Yet if you have no edges, thought Sophie, how lonely, how drifting, you must consent to be.”
A perfect description of that moment when cultures who label all as "Others" unless and until they submit to the One Right Way bump into each other - and how that is often when one is claiming the territory (no matter how politely and for their own good) of the Others until it is Ours. . . .
I recommend highly. Written in the 50’s it is in the context of that time.
September 21, 2016
This is my least favorite of the Rumor Godden novels I have read. I suppose that most people can be categorized as a Sophie or a Teresa. Sophies are the people who are adventurous and heedless to the advice of others. Then there are Teresas who want the ordinary creature comforts that come with the predictability that drive the Sophies of the world mad. I am a Teresa so I understood the young Teresa's dismay with her mother. As a mother myself, I cannot imagine living in a place that put myself and my children at risk. The Sophies of the world can live their lives in abandon knowing the Teresas of the world will take care of things when they fall apart. I see that many reviewers see Sophie as a feminist who dared to break with convention but I find her childish and immature. I also see this book as a cultural dialogue. Cultures are different as much as we would like to think we are all alike deep down inside. The Indian people found Sophie just as strange as she found them when she lived in the village. I had a hard time understanding why she wanted to live in that remote village when she did have other choices, but then I am a Teresa.
May 11, 2016
Having read about 7 or 8 of her fiction novels, this one is, for me, rather below the high bar. It held some scrumptious description and nailed the locale. But Sophia is highly, highly autobiographical in the exact time, placement, situation, and outcome sense, despite this being fiction. And that is odd for most of Rumer Godden's fiction. In other words, this held far less imaginary personality of the principles for that highest degree which I find so superb in her novels.
Sophia (main character) is a widow, while Rumer was separated on the way to divorce. But the facts for being totally broke and with two children and unable to get home under war circumstances were all across the board quite identical.
This idyll in Kashmir was a perfect frame for the personality of the daughter in the story, Teresa. That I thought was 4 star. It certainly was a time when life or circumstances or activity did not AT ALL surround the druthers or needs of the children over the onus and purpose of the adults. Moving, moving, moving was certainly not what the children desired.
I love how she, probably without realizing how accurately, captures the exact dichotomy that Rumer had for this situation. It reflects the highest parallel in the Sophia character more than in any other Rumer Godden fiction character. She wants to be a "peasant" so she has determined that she is, and that's the end of the discussion. Despite all the cultural disagreements and different treatments she experiences while living "as one of the peasants". Regardless of her version of "peasant" having two full time servants (instead of the 7 she had previously) and occasion and the association pulls for her getting such a house virtually rent free (7 rupees) per month for 5 years.
Her sense of awe and who owns her own time- it's never for a minute diminished despite all circumstances of reality that try to contain it. HOW unusual she was! Even if adventure, means getting typhoid and having your kids eat nothing but lentils, rice, and assortments of rare vegetables and little else. With a couple of fish a month for any "meat" or protein category whatsoever.
It certainly was an adventure and she was her own boss in this exceptionally stunning place. In Kashmir, at that time, a white woman more than a pundit ! Makes you really, really wonder the shock those kids must have gotten when they eventually in their teens had to go to a school with subjects like math in England or Scotland. But they certainly- though pale, wan and undersized and having experienced successive infecting illnesses- sure knew their geography.
Can you tell, I really felt for those kids reading this one. For Sophia, in all her waiting for Toby to save her- not as much.
Sophia (main character) is a widow, while Rumer was separated on the way to divorce. But the facts for being totally broke and with two children and unable to get home under war circumstances were all across the board quite identical.
This idyll in Kashmir was a perfect frame for the personality of the daughter in the story, Teresa. That I thought was 4 star. It certainly was a time when life or circumstances or activity did not AT ALL surround the druthers or needs of the children over the onus and purpose of the adults. Moving, moving, moving was certainly not what the children desired.
I love how she, probably without realizing how accurately, captures the exact dichotomy that Rumer had for this situation. It reflects the highest parallel in the Sophia character more than in any other Rumer Godden fiction character. She wants to be a "peasant" so she has determined that she is, and that's the end of the discussion. Despite all the cultural disagreements and different treatments she experiences while living "as one of the peasants". Regardless of her version of "peasant" having two full time servants (instead of the 7 she had previously) and occasion and the association pulls for her getting such a house virtually rent free (7 rupees) per month for 5 years.
Her sense of awe and who owns her own time- it's never for a minute diminished despite all circumstances of reality that try to contain it. HOW unusual she was! Even if adventure, means getting typhoid and having your kids eat nothing but lentils, rice, and assortments of rare vegetables and little else. With a couple of fish a month for any "meat" or protein category whatsoever.
It certainly was an adventure and she was her own boss in this exceptionally stunning place. In Kashmir, at that time, a white woman more than a pundit ! Makes you really, really wonder the shock those kids must have gotten when they eventually in their teens had to go to a school with subjects like math in England or Scotland. But they certainly- though pale, wan and undersized and having experienced successive infecting illnesses- sure knew their geography.
Can you tell, I really felt for those kids reading this one. For Sophia, in all her waiting for Toby to save her- not as much.
January 18, 2021
Rumer Godden’s novel The River is a familiar classic, but this less-known novel deserves more attention in my view. It also has the lush descriptions evoking Indian landscapes but matched by a tightly constructed plot that caught me up and held me from quite early on.
Kashmir is a place I have always wanted to see, and Godden’s descriptions seduced me completely. This is a bit of a trap, though, as the beauty of the place is only one part of the picture, and the beauty blinded both the reader and the main character.
Englishwoman Sophie has lived in India for many years; her British husband has just died, leaving her and their two children in straitened circumstances. Her husband seems to have made relatively little impression on Sophie, and she is more relieved than anything to shake off the shackles of expectation. She resists the pressure to return home to England and a life she finds stultifying, and instead decides to rent a house in the Kashmiri countryside. Her eight-year-old daughter Teresa, by contrast, is a timorous soul who longs for the security of a settled home. The baby of the family, Moo, is still inarticulate but expresses his own anxieties through rages and tears. Sophie is heedless of their concerns, driven by her own imagined life among the native people in a place that calls to her, so off they go.
The bulk of the story is set in the remote village where they land, and it concerns Sophie’s misguided ideas of fitting in and living like the peasants around her, and the ways her actions destabilize the culture she has invaded. It is an extraordinarily deft tale, in which the essential natures and assumptions of all the characters, Anglos and Kashmiris equally, drive the story to its logical end. I am a huge fan of this sort of organic storytelling, and Godden is a master at giving every character the respect he or she is due and letting them all have their heads. It is a tale of humor and beauty and dread and shock, and carried me right along with it.
One scene near the end between Sophie and the villagers did not ring quite true to me: I felt the transformation came too quickly and was too complete. But the story needed resolution and the very end was deeply satisfying to me.
Kashmir is a place I have always wanted to see, and Godden’s descriptions seduced me completely. This is a bit of a trap, though, as the beauty of the place is only one part of the picture, and the beauty blinded both the reader and the main character.
Englishwoman Sophie has lived in India for many years; her British husband has just died, leaving her and their two children in straitened circumstances. Her husband seems to have made relatively little impression on Sophie, and she is more relieved than anything to shake off the shackles of expectation. She resists the pressure to return home to England and a life she finds stultifying, and instead decides to rent a house in the Kashmiri countryside. Her eight-year-old daughter Teresa, by contrast, is a timorous soul who longs for the security of a settled home. The baby of the family, Moo, is still inarticulate but expresses his own anxieties through rages and tears. Sophie is heedless of their concerns, driven by her own imagined life among the native people in a place that calls to her, so off they go.
The bulk of the story is set in the remote village where they land, and it concerns Sophie’s misguided ideas of fitting in and living like the peasants around her, and the ways her actions destabilize the culture she has invaded. It is an extraordinarily deft tale, in which the essential natures and assumptions of all the characters, Anglos and Kashmiris equally, drive the story to its logical end. I am a huge fan of this sort of organic storytelling, and Godden is a master at giving every character the respect he or she is due and letting them all have their heads. It is a tale of humor and beauty and dread and shock, and carried me right along with it.
One scene near the end between Sophie and the villagers did not ring quite true to me: I felt the transformation came too quickly and was too complete. But the story needed resolution and the very end was deeply satisfying to me.
November 9, 2023
STORYTELLING– This story is largely biographical, based on Godden’s experiences raising her children in Kashmir on little money after separating from her husband. The Godden figure in the book, Sophie, similarly moves to Kashmir taking along her ‘priggish’ daughter Teresa and her more infant son Moo. The storyline is how she manages to live with the locals in the home she established in the rural mountainside above a small village.
During the first half I thought it was just a fairly mundane slice of life story enhanced by an exotic setting. However, in the second half, the slice of life plot events compounded to build to some dramatic climactic events. Despite the drama, though, I never felt engrossed in the story. Part of its limited appeal was due to my less than positive attitude toward the characters and the choices the characters made.
CHARACTERIZATION – I had difficulty relating to any of the characters. The cultural practices, low ethics and untruthfulness of the local village population made it tough for me to feel any sympathy for them, outside of the caretaker Nabir Dar. But, then their purpose was to serve as a foil for Sophie rather than to evoke my sympathy.
Sophie herself was difficult to empathize with. The Introduction describes her as ‘brave ingenious and determined’ but also ‘maddening.’ It was Sophie’s maddening trait that dominated for me. What was maddening about Sophie was that her determination and bravery often had her inaccurately assessing situations and stubbornly acting on these assessments. Her choices resulted in the consistent waste of her money and often jeopardized the safety of her daughter and son. Rather than empathy, her actions evoked a “you deserve what you get” feeling on my part.
WRITING STYLE –Godden’s style, while often using complex sentences, was still very clear and descriptive. I enjoyed her use of color imagery and found it easy to keep reading even when the storytelling was less than satisfying.
OVERALL – I thought the well-written book told an interesting story but my enjoyment of it was limited by my lack of sympathy toward the characters. A 3-star read.
During the first half I thought it was just a fairly mundane slice of life story enhanced by an exotic setting. However, in the second half, the slice of life plot events compounded to build to some dramatic climactic events. Despite the drama, though, I never felt engrossed in the story. Part of its limited appeal was due to my less than positive attitude toward the characters and the choices the characters made.
CHARACTERIZATION – I had difficulty relating to any of the characters. The cultural practices, low ethics and untruthfulness of the local village population made it tough for me to feel any sympathy for them, outside of the caretaker Nabir Dar. But, then their purpose was to serve as a foil for Sophie rather than to evoke my sympathy.
Sophie herself was difficult to empathize with. The Introduction describes her as ‘brave ingenious and determined’ but also ‘maddening.’ It was Sophie’s maddening trait that dominated for me. What was maddening about Sophie was that her determination and bravery often had her inaccurately assessing situations and stubbornly acting on these assessments. Her choices resulted in the consistent waste of her money and often jeopardized the safety of her daughter and son. Rather than empathy, her actions evoked a “you deserve what you get” feeling on my part.
WRITING STYLE –Godden’s style, while often using complex sentences, was still very clear and descriptive. I enjoyed her use of color imagery and found it easy to keep reading even when the storytelling was less than satisfying.
OVERALL – I thought the well-written book told an interesting story but my enjoyment of it was limited by my lack of sympathy toward the characters. A 3-star read.
July 6, 2018
This is a book to treasure. It tells the story of Sophie, a British woman who goes to live in a remote village in pre-partition Kashmir. She is living in relative poverty, but, to the villagers, she is a rich outsider who deserves to be cheated and exploited. She is well-meaning, but naive in wanting to help the people. Her lack of cultural understanding brings disaster to her family. At times she seems to be wantonly unkind to her daughter, which often makes it hard for the reader to sympathise with her. But her naivety is an essential part of the theme of the book, and is also important to the plot.
But the outstanding part of the book lies in its breathtaking descriptions of Kashmir in those days. I felt as though I was drowning in the beauty, sights, sounds and smells of the place. However, it is not sentimental. The harsh lives and grinding poverty of the people are described in vivid detail, including infant deaths, violence and cruelty.
I will re-read this book, because it is heartbreakingly beautiful. Now I am off to read the other books that she wrote about India. They cannot beat this one. It is a gem.
But the outstanding part of the book lies in its breathtaking descriptions of Kashmir in those days. I felt as though I was drowning in the beauty, sights, sounds and smells of the place. However, it is not sentimental. The harsh lives and grinding poverty of the people are described in vivid detail, including infant deaths, violence and cruelty.
I will re-read this book, because it is heartbreakingly beautiful. Now I am off to read the other books that she wrote about India. They cannot beat this one. It is a gem.
November 28, 2008
I first read this when I was about 13 and I re-read it every 10 years or so. Rumer Godden is one of the great unsung writers of the English language. Her books are exquisitely plotted, beautifully written and push & pull your emotions around. She almost always uses the perspective of children to balance the adult plots, and she does so to great effect.
I highly recommend absolutely anything written by Rumer Godden who was a fascinating woman in her own right as well as a superb writer. I only regret that she did not write enough. Not enough for me at least. :(
I highly recommend absolutely anything written by Rumer Godden who was a fascinating woman in her own right as well as a superb writer. I only regret that she did not write enough. Not enough for me at least. :(
May 31, 2012
Possibly my favorite book.
January 7, 2021
Based on the author’s experience of living in a small house in Kashmir with her two daughters, she tells the story of Sophie Barrington-Ward a widow who decides to make a simple living in a village outside Srinigar. Sophie is poor by English standards, but rich according to the villagers who use her resources to improve their livelihoods. Sophie’s daughter Teresa experiences the village and its children as a much more hostile environment than her mother. Sophie’s naivety eventually results in tragedy and she has to face the effects of her decisions and willfully blind approach to life. I loved the descriptions of Kashmir and the beauty of the area. Rumer Godden is one of my favourite authors and her ability to write about a community and the impact of everyday decisions on their lives is well displayed in this novel.
November 15, 2014
In the early 1950's, an expat Brit facing boredom and penury decamps from India with her two children to a remote town in Kashmir. As the consummate romantic outsider with the best intentions, she wreaks havoc on the village and her family. This semi-autobiographical novel is beautifully written with honesty and lyrical descriptions of the Kashmiri landscape.
May 22, 2017
We should all listen to the Aunt Roses in our lives...
July 26, 2016
“In India a woman alone does not go and live alone – not, at any rate, far from her own kind, not unless she is a saint or a great sinner. Sophie was not a saint, or a sinner, but she was undeniably a woman.”
I was left with mixed feelings from this novel that depicted life in a small peasant village in India.
Sophie, left by the unexpected early death of her husband Denzil, has become gravely ill. Taken to a Mission hospital, her long recovery results in new friendships for her, but Sophie will be ever one to question not only her own place in the world but its unchallenged mores and principles:
“She went into the Mission chapel. It was a small whitewashed room with deal pews, a strip of blue carpet, a carved lectern, and an altar; on the altar were brass vases filled with holly, and, between them, a brass cross. It was a little refuge of holiness and quiet in the press and hurry and alarms of the hospital.
“God is here,’ said the printed text on the wall. “Yes,” said Sophie. ‘But,’ she asked, ‘isn’t He everywhere? Then why do they make Him little?”
Sophie has two young children to provide for; Teresa and Moo. Teresa, the eldest child, needs a home; a place to put down roots, and Sophie decides to take up residence with her two young children in a small chalet-type dwelling near a remote Kashmiri village. However all is not well in the village. “There were two chief families in the village, the Dars and the Sheikhs; almost every villager bore one of those names, and there was bitter rivalry between them.” A misunderstanding that arises with Sophie’s hired help is the catalyst for further upheaval that will have lasting repercussions on Sophie’s family.
I loved the author’s descriptions of India in the Spring!
“The wind and the cold had gone. Now spring came with a rush startling in its quickness. There were lines of yellow under the almond trees, yellow of mustard; the edge of the lake was a fuzz of green from the willows. Sometimes a warm wind blew that beat the water into shallow waves, but usually the lake was still and it had blue and white reflections, pale blue from the sky, deeper blue from the mountains, and white from the clouds and from the snow that still streaked and hid the peaks. The orchards were thick with flowers, and the air was filled with the bleating of lambs and the lowing of cattle, with the herd children’s cries and pipings and in the Dhilkusha garden, the song of birds.”
In Sophie’s yearning to establish a home among a people whom she does not yet understand nor totally empathise with, she finds herself wondering who she really is and whether she truly is capable of being as independently self-sufficient as she hopes to be.
I have to admit I did not appreciate Sophie’s character or have much sympathy for her. She does not seem to have much sympathy for her daughter Teresa and her needs and I had a hard time deciding if Sophie is simply naïve, or just overwhelmingly stubborn and idealistic. In her headstrong refusal to listen to any advice, Sophie courts danger not only to herself and her children, but also results in upheaval among the village itself.
Although I had empathy for Sophie in her situation, (and she certainly was courageous although it could be argued that she ‘caused her own problems’), her seeming neglect of her children was just over the top for me. Although Sophie ends up remorseful and suffering the consequences of a bad decision, I have a hard time forgiving her in this book! When ultimately Sophie is rescued in her distress, she stubbornly persists in pursuing her unrealistic ‘dream’, turning her back on the very person(s) who rushed to her aid. Although I would like to believe that Sophie has learned from her experiences, I also wonder if she were doomed to repeat them.
I did find in reading interviews with the author's daughter, Jane, that incidents in this book were often autobiographical.
Rumer Godden seems to be a popular author and I will be reading more of her!
I was left with mixed feelings from this novel that depicted life in a small peasant village in India.
Sophie, left by the unexpected early death of her husband Denzil, has become gravely ill. Taken to a Mission hospital, her long recovery results in new friendships for her, but Sophie will be ever one to question not only her own place in the world but its unchallenged mores and principles:
“She went into the Mission chapel. It was a small whitewashed room with deal pews, a strip of blue carpet, a carved lectern, and an altar; on the altar were brass vases filled with holly, and, between them, a brass cross. It was a little refuge of holiness and quiet in the press and hurry and alarms of the hospital.
“God is here,’ said the printed text on the wall. “Yes,” said Sophie. ‘But,’ she asked, ‘isn’t He everywhere? Then why do they make Him little?”
Sophie has two young children to provide for; Teresa and Moo. Teresa, the eldest child, needs a home; a place to put down roots, and Sophie decides to take up residence with her two young children in a small chalet-type dwelling near a remote Kashmiri village. However all is not well in the village. “There were two chief families in the village, the Dars and the Sheikhs; almost every villager bore one of those names, and there was bitter rivalry between them.” A misunderstanding that arises with Sophie’s hired help is the catalyst for further upheaval that will have lasting repercussions on Sophie’s family.
I loved the author’s descriptions of India in the Spring!
“The wind and the cold had gone. Now spring came with a rush startling in its quickness. There were lines of yellow under the almond trees, yellow of mustard; the edge of the lake was a fuzz of green from the willows. Sometimes a warm wind blew that beat the water into shallow waves, but usually the lake was still and it had blue and white reflections, pale blue from the sky, deeper blue from the mountains, and white from the clouds and from the snow that still streaked and hid the peaks. The orchards were thick with flowers, and the air was filled with the bleating of lambs and the lowing of cattle, with the herd children’s cries and pipings and in the Dhilkusha garden, the song of birds.”
In Sophie’s yearning to establish a home among a people whom she does not yet understand nor totally empathise with, she finds herself wondering who she really is and whether she truly is capable of being as independently self-sufficient as she hopes to be.
I have to admit I did not appreciate Sophie’s character or have much sympathy for her. She does not seem to have much sympathy for her daughter Teresa and her needs and I had a hard time deciding if Sophie is simply naïve, or just overwhelmingly stubborn and idealistic. In her headstrong refusal to listen to any advice, Sophie courts danger not only to herself and her children, but also results in upheaval among the village itself.
Although I had empathy for Sophie in her situation, (and she certainly was courageous although it could be argued that she ‘caused her own problems’), her seeming neglect of her children was just over the top for me. Although Sophie ends up remorseful and suffering the consequences of a bad decision, I have a hard time forgiving her in this book! When ultimately Sophie is rescued in her distress, she stubbornly persists in pursuing her unrealistic ‘dream’, turning her back on the very person(s) who rushed to her aid. Although I would like to believe that Sophie has learned from her experiences, I also wonder if she were doomed to repeat them.
I did find in reading interviews with the author's daughter, Jane, that incidents in this book were often autobiographical.
Rumer Godden seems to be a popular author and I will be reading more of her!
June 10, 2020
This is a forgotten little gem of a novel about a British ex-pat decamping to live as a ‘peasant’ in the Kashmiri countryside when her husband’s death leaves her in (relatively) straightened circumstances. It is a book that felt as if it continually defied the expectations that I had of it right through to the end. What seems as if it could be a dated and potentially uncomfortable view of a naive and sentimental heroine setting out to live amongst the ‘locals’, is far cleverer in its analysis of the damage that can be done if, in this case through colonial arrogance, one is blind to cultural differences, even if your intentions are completely well meaning. It also creates a complex and believable protagonist. Whilst showing bravery in rejecting what society expects of her, for the most part Sophie is not a particularly admirable heroine. She is far too whimsical, doesn’t think things through and her attitude towards her children is often ambivalent at best. I loved the juxtaposition between her and her ‘sensible’ nine year old daughter Theresa.
The descriptions of Kashmir and it’s people are beyond beautiful but alongside the romanticism there is also plenty of harsh reality and the story veers from comedic to tragic to frightening to heartening and back again. I have read a number of female authors from this period over the past few months and I have been consistently surprised at how varied they are and how much many of their books were pushing boundaries way before the writers that I have always thought of as being the forerunners in this. I have to wonder why none of these were ever taught at school. On the upside it means that I have found a rich and unexpected seam of unread books and Godden is another author that I look forward to reading more of.
The descriptions of Kashmir and it’s people are beyond beautiful but alongside the romanticism there is also plenty of harsh reality and the story veers from comedic to tragic to frightening to heartening and back again. I have read a number of female authors from this period over the past few months and I have been consistently surprised at how varied they are and how much many of their books were pushing boundaries way before the writers that I have always thought of as being the forerunners in this. I have to wonder why none of these were ever taught at school. On the upside it means that I have found a rich and unexpected seam of unread books and Godden is another author that I look forward to reading more of.
May 29, 2014
I loved this book. Especially so knowing that it was quite autobiographical and echoed a time in the authors life. It did sweep me to the time and place and I really felt for the main character trying to do so much but failing due to a total lack of understanding of the nuances in a culture very different to her own and the damage that can be done as a result.
February 6, 2025
Different to read about an English woman living in India. I've mostly read missionary biographies.
There were a few spots where I had to make myself push on, but otherwise it was an interesting read. Food for thought about how living in a different culture can not only change you but affect the community for good or ill.
There were a few spots where I had to make myself push on, but otherwise it was an interesting read. Food for thought about how living in a different culture can not only change you but affect the community for good or ill.
January 12, 2021
I read this book as a teenager many years ago and loved it. Rereading it now, I find it’s still one of my very favorites. As a teen, it made me long to visit India and see the world. I love Sophie. She is a romantic, flawed, and often gets things completely wrong. I love her spirit and determination. The ending makes the book.
March 16, 2018
I gave this one 5*for the ending. All gthe way through, I thought it was going to end in a certain way, but it didn't. This both surprised and pleased me.
January 29, 2024
Greengage Summer meets Black Narcissus! A slow build with beautiful descriptions of the Kashmir landscape. As with The Greengage Summer, the most engaging episodes are those involving the children. That said, I enjoyed Sophie's independent spirit despite the countless mistakes she kept making. My heart sank when Toby arrived and she just fell into his arms but I should have trusted Rumer Godden. It was a satisfying ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2014
"In India a woman alone does not go and live alone – not, at any rate, far from her own kind, not unless she is a saint or a great sinner. Sophie was not a saint, or a sinner, but she was undeniably a woman."
So begins the novel, Kingfishers Catch Fire, by British author Rummer Godden (1907-1998). Godden grew up in India and used her experiences as a background for this novel. Kingfishers is the story of Sophie Barrington Ward who takes her two children to live in Kashmir. Her husband, a British officer stationed in India, has passed away and she refuses to return to England to live a conventional life.
Instead she moves to a remote Indian village and rents a small house, hoping to live simply on her husband’s pension. But what passes for simplicity to an English woman is luxurious extravagance to the villagers. From the beginning the people question the strangeness of her ways and her motives for coming. There are two rival clans in the town, but Sophie is completely oblivious to their quarrels. She seems strangely unaware of cultural differences between the villagers and herself, assuming that common sense will win out in every disagreement. She wants to help them, but her western ideas of justice and fairness fall on bewildered ears. Eventually her disregard for the villagers’ beliefs leads to tragedy for herself and her children.
Two men are put in prison, but although they have caused trouble for Sophie, she knows that they are not guilty of the accusations leveled against them. In the end, Sophie does what she can to make amends. Some issues are resolved and others are not. When I finished the book I was left scratching my head over what exactly she had accomplished with her self-imposed exile in Kashmir.
Reading Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem from which the book takes its title, cleared up the mystery to some degree. In the poem Hopkins writes that just as kingfishers and dragonflies reflect glorious color as the sun hits their wings, so mortal men reflect God’s glory when they are expressing grace and justice to their fellow men. When they do that, they are “being Christ in a thousand places”.
A very interesting book!
So begins the novel, Kingfishers Catch Fire, by British author Rummer Godden (1907-1998). Godden grew up in India and used her experiences as a background for this novel. Kingfishers is the story of Sophie Barrington Ward who takes her two children to live in Kashmir. Her husband, a British officer stationed in India, has passed away and she refuses to return to England to live a conventional life.
Instead she moves to a remote Indian village and rents a small house, hoping to live simply on her husband’s pension. But what passes for simplicity to an English woman is luxurious extravagance to the villagers. From the beginning the people question the strangeness of her ways and her motives for coming. There are two rival clans in the town, but Sophie is completely oblivious to their quarrels. She seems strangely unaware of cultural differences between the villagers and herself, assuming that common sense will win out in every disagreement. She wants to help them, but her western ideas of justice and fairness fall on bewildered ears. Eventually her disregard for the villagers’ beliefs leads to tragedy for herself and her children.
Two men are put in prison, but although they have caused trouble for Sophie, she knows that they are not guilty of the accusations leveled against them. In the end, Sophie does what she can to make amends. Some issues are resolved and others are not. When I finished the book I was left scratching my head over what exactly she had accomplished with her self-imposed exile in Kashmir.
Reading Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem from which the book takes its title, cleared up the mystery to some degree. In the poem Hopkins writes that just as kingfishers and dragonflies reflect glorious color as the sun hits their wings, so mortal men reflect God’s glory when they are expressing grace and justice to their fellow men. When they do that, they are “being Christ in a thousand places”.
A very interesting book!
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February 20, 2015I enjoyed this book and although I found the main a bit naive she was very believable ad I did feel for her. I loved the descriptions of Kashmir and the local characters were very lively and interesting. It is an older book so a little dated in some ways but that was part of its charm.
Sophie's innocence that lead to all the problems was of her time. Her total misunderstanding of the local ways was because she didn't really belong to either the memsahib whites not to the locals and was scorned by the whites and taken advantage of by the locals whom she tried to befriend.
I did feel sorry for the children who seemed to be dragged along with little care for their welfare at all and it seems that the daughter Theresa had to grow up faster than she should have as she was needed to help her mother cope.
I felt this book was kind of like looking at a painting done in a bygone age. So much has changed since it was written in the way of politics and attitudes that it was a snap shop of a time long past.
It has certainly made me interested in visiting Kashnmir should we ever get the opportunity as the scenery sounds fabulous. Ths was my mother's book and it was given to her just before she and my father and younger sister visited Kashmir and stayed on a houseboat on the Dahl Lake back in 1972.
Sophie's innocence that lead to all the problems was of her time. Her total misunderstanding of the local ways was because she didn't really belong to either the memsahib whites not to the locals and was scorned by the whites and taken advantage of by the locals whom she tried to befriend.
I did feel sorry for the children who seemed to be dragged along with little care for their welfare at all and it seems that the daughter Theresa had to grow up faster than she should have as she was needed to help her mother cope.
I felt this book was kind of like looking at a painting done in a bygone age. So much has changed since it was written in the way of politics and attitudes that it was a snap shop of a time long past.
It has certainly made me interested in visiting Kashnmir should we ever get the opportunity as the scenery sounds fabulous. Ths was my mother's book and it was given to her just before she and my father and younger sister visited Kashmir and stayed on a houseboat on the Dahl Lake back in 1972.
January 7, 2013
Set in 1950s Kashmir, the novel chronicles roughly a year in the life of a young widow and her two children, as she tries to life off the pension of her late husband (who worked in the Indian colonial civil service) by renting a cottage in a small mountain village and living as the only Europeans in the town. Godden drew on her own experiences living in Kashmir, the book has a strong sense of place and does a good job of drawing out the tensions between the various native and colonial cultures, put into clash by the heroine's idealistic determination to "live like a native". The book reminded me how delightful Godden's adult novels are, and I want to read more soon. My won complaint was that I found the mother a somewhat annoying character due to her personal flakiness, so I very much enjoyed the character of her six-year-old daughter.
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