The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 6 books · 1939 to 1969

Rumer Godden

Literary and generalLiterary fiction

Rumer Godden, who grew up in India, wrote quiet, intense novels for adults and children. Black Narcissus follows Anglican nuns in a Himalayan palace; The Greengage Summer follows English children stranded at a French hotel.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. Her novels are standalones; leads are charted per book.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Rumer Godden books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Novels

6 booksLiterary fiction
  1. 1Black Narcissus1939With Sister Clodagh · Set in the HimalayasBuy on Amazon
  2. 2The River1946With Harriet · Set in BengalBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Kingfishers Catch Fire1953With Sophie Barrington · Set in KashmirBuy on Amazon
  4. 4An Episode of Sparrows1955With Lovejoy Mason · Set in LondonBuy on Amazon
  5. 5The Greengage Summer1958With Cecil Grey · Set in ChampagneBuy on Amazon
  6. 6In This House of Brede1969With Philippa Talbot · Set in SussexBuy on Amazon

Characters

6 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Leads