The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: The Greengage Summer, Rumer Godden

The Greengage Summer

Rumer Godden

A sixteen-year-old girl captures the dangerous attention of an older man in this New York Times-bestselling novel by the author of Black Narcissus.

Soon after the end of the terrible Great War, Mrs. Grey brings her five young children to the French countryside for the summer in hopes of instilling in them a sense of history and humility. But when she is struck down by a sudden illness and hospitalized, the siblings are left to fend for themselves at the lovely, bullet-scarred hotel Les Oeillets, under the suspicious, watchful eyes of its owner, Mademoiselle Zizi.

The young ones find a willing guide, companion, and protector in charming Englishman Eliot, a longtime resident at Les Oeillets and Mlle. Zizi's apparent paramour. But as these warm days of freedom, discovery, and adolescent adventure unfold, Eliot's interest becomes more and more focused on the eldest of the Grey children, sixteen-year-old daughter Joss. The older man's obsession with the innocent, alluring, heartbreakingly beautiful woman-child soon threatens to overstep all bounds of propriety. And as Eliot's fascination increases, so does the jealousy of his disrespected lover, adding fuel to a dangerously smoldering fire that could erupt into unexpected violence at any moment.

Told from the point of view of Cecil, Joss's sharp-eyed younger sister, The Greengage Summer is a beautiful, poignant, darkly tinged coming-of-age story rich in the sights, smells, and sounds of France's breathtaking Champagne country. It remains one of the crowning literary achievements of Rumer Godden, acclaimed author of beloved classics Black Narcissus, The River, and In This House of Brede.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Open Road Media
  • Publish Date: Apr 20th, 2021
  • Pages: 238
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.90in - 5.20in - 0.70in - 0.55lb
  • EAN: 9781504066587
  • Recommended age: 09-12
  • Categories: Coming of AgeLiteraryFamily Life - General

About the Author

Godden, Rumer: - Rumer Godden (1907-1998) was the author of more than sixty works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children's literature, and is considered by many to be one of the foremost English language writers of the twentieth century. Born in Sussex, England, she moved with her family to Narayanganj, colonial India, now Bangladesh, when she was six months old. Godden began her writing career with Chinese Puzzle in 1936 and achieved international fame three years later with her third book, Black Narcissus. A number of her novels were inspired by her nearly four decades of life in India, including The River, Kingfishers Catch Fire, Breakfast with the Nikolides, and her final work, Cromartie vs. the God Shiva, published in 1997. She returned to the United Kingdom for good at the end of World War II and continued her prolific literary career with the acclaimed novels The Greengage Summer, In This House of Brede, and numerous others. Godden won the Whitbread Award for children's literature in 1972, and in 1993 she was named an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Nine of her novels have been made into motion pictures. She died at the age of ninety in Dumfriesshire, UK.

More books by Rumer Godden

Book Cover for: The Story of Holly and Ivy, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: In This House of Brede, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: Black Narcissus, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: The Doll's House, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: Mouse House, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: China Court, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: The Dark Horse, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: The River, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: An Episode of Sparrows, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, Rumer Godden
Book Cover for: Breakfast with Nikolides, Rumer Godden