A Fugue In Time by Rumer Godden

by Rumer Godden

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: B01MDR6UD0
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Michael Joseph
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Life of a House (Or The Life in a House?)

I think this and CHINA COURT are Rumer Godden's masterpieces, even though her fiction and memoirs concerning India are more well known, more well read. Every time I read TAKE THREE TENSES I get more out of it. Last night I had only to read 30 or so pages and I was weeping into my pillow. The idea that a house holds the spirits, the thoughts, the actions, the secrets, of all of her occupants, forever, is fascinating. In this age of moving every few years as our jobs and our marriages and our educations take us far and wide, we are less able to appreciate the hold a house can have over us. General Roly, the elderly sole occupant of the house, shares the space with his own former self -- Rollo, the kid with the pudding bowl haircut -- as well as the former selves of his family: his mother Griselda, who died giving birth to him, his sister Selina, his ill-fated twin brother and sister Freddie and Elizabeth, all the past servants, past household pets, and especially the orphaned Lark, who held a secret torch for Roly until forever. The ghosts are loquacious and ever-present but this is not a traditional ghost story. The grandfather clock on the landing sees all. Staircases creak with ancient footfalls and new; smells of past dinners waft through the silent rooms, the plane tree waves its branches over the dusty backyard, the church next door chimes the hours. And Rollo is dreaming in his chair. Or is he? I recommend this book very highly. Check it out along with Godden's other wonderful books. Happy (and weepy) reading!!!