Facing harsh adult realities, a young English girl in India must leave
childhood behind, in this masterful tale from a New York
Times-bestselling author.
The Ganges River runs through young Harriet's world. The eleven-year-old
daughter of the British owner of a successful jute concern, she loves
her life in Bengal, India, on the river's edge, so far removed from the
English boarding school she attended before the outbreak of hostilities
in Europe.
Often left alone by an overworked father and preoccupied mother, Harriet
is enchanted by the local festivals, colors, and vibrant life
surrounding her. Now, as she stands on the brink of adulthood--too old
to play childish games with her reckless little brother, Bogey, yet too
young to be touched by such grown-up concerns as the faraway Second
World War--a stranger's unexpected arrival will rock her world.
When Captain John, a handsome soldier returning wounded from the
battlefield, becomes her family's new neighbor, Harriet is instantly
entranced, beset by a rush of unfamiliar emotions: longing, jealousy,
infatuation. But the inevitable change inherent in growing older may be
too heavy a burden for a young girl to bear when it carries with it
disappointment and heartbreaking loss.
Inspired by the author's personal experiences as a child raised in
India--and the basis for the acclaimed classic motion picture of the
same name from French film director Jean Renoir--Rumer Godden's The
River is a lovely, moving portrayal of childhood's end. Evocative,
heartfelt, and bittersweet, it is a coming-of-age story without equal
from a major twentieth-century novelist.
