A House With Four Rooms

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Summary: an exquisite gift from Rumer Godden
Review: "A House With Four Rooms" will delight those new to Rumer Godden as well as those who have read "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep," the first volume of her memoirs. This second volume tells the story of her life in England after WWII when she returned from India, her getting established as a writer in London, raising Jane and Paula, love affairs with several delightful houses, collaboration with Jean Renoir on the movie "The River," second marriage, lecture tours of America, conversion to Catholicism, link with the Benedictine nuns and writing of "This House of Brede," and a wealth of other charming things. The wine of her life beautifully aged and distilled, this memoir ends with her retirement to Scotland, but its delight goes on long after that. You'll love it.

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Summary: The treasure of Miss Godden's life is in this memoir.
Review: "A House With Four Rooms," the second and last volume of Rumer Godden's memoirs, is one of the most treasured volumes in my library. Miss Godden writes with a terrible beauty of her life on returning to England, a divorcee with two little girls, her obstinate and ultimately successful struggle to earn a living solely by writing, her second marriage, her conversion to Catholicism, the years at Stanbrook Abbey where she wrote "In This House of Brede," her publishers, the films made from her books, and (of course) her love affairs with houses. She also writes delightfully and with her incomparable irony of the challenges of fame, a lecture tour of the United States, etc. The book nourishes the mind, the soul, the imagination, and the heart. You will be consoled without having realized you were in need of consolation. Enjoy, if you haven't already, the first volume of her memoirs, "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep."