Two Under the Indian Sun

I love Rumer Godden’s novels, but I’m even fonder of her memoirs, especially this one. Writing with her sister, Jon, she describes life in Naryangang (then in British India, now in Bangla Desh) during and shortly after World War 1. The large household, the bazaar, the diversity of people, the bright sun and the monsoon rains, the wealth and the poverty, the danger of rabid dogs, the holidays in hill stations…I grew up in India forty years after Jon and Rumer Godden, but in many ways, their experiences bring back my own childhood.

Jon and Rumer Godden, sisters, were seven and six when World War One broke out. They escaped life with their austere maiden aunts in England when they were sent to join their parents in a river town, Narayangunj—now in Bangladesh. I just love this vivid little book, full of bright light and characters. The sisters, who wrote all through their childhood, detail daily life in India from a child’s point of view: the rooms, meals, and servants of their house as well as the jute boats, river steamers, pets, dangers, and cyclones of the country. Being a parent of European… show more.