4.5 stars! This book completely captivated me. At first, the story was enjoyable, but slow going for me and I was confused by the writing style. The frequent references to future conversations in the present time threw me off for a bit. Finally, I got used to the way that the author was writing the story and I was totally immersed in this late summer coming of age drama. I loved the interesting characters (especially Cecil, Elliot, Joss and Wilmouse) and the foreign hotel atmosphere. I've always adored the French language and I was excited by the additions of French conversations and customs in this story. The last quarter of the book was thrilling and the book was really hard to put down. It's a book that you want to start re-reading almost the moment you put it down and I can't wait to read it again. Highly recommended!

This is an interesting story of a mother taking her five children from England to France for a visit and on the first day she gets sick and is in the hospital for -- maybe two months? And who is minding the children you might ask -- the hotel management. Well, since the children are basically ages six to sixteen, they kind of mind themselves. But they don't have any regular adult supervision.

However, the hotel "manageress" has a boyfriend, Eliot, who takes a liking to the kids and takes them for outings and buys them candy and treats. But a mystery surrounding Eliot comes about and no one has seen anything, except.... yes, the children.

Rumer Godden is such a good author. Her writing makes you feel that you are "there" in the story. I plan to read more of her books!

I re-read this book every 10 years or so, yet always manage to forget important plot points in the years in-between, which only adds to my reading pleasure. It's really a perfect little book, (minus some dated political incorrectness,) with an incredible sense of place and time, a French village in the 1950s. When their mother takes ill and is hospitalized while on a family vacation to see the battlefields of France, five British children are left to fend for themselves in a small hotel, with minimal supervision. An adult coming of age novel, mature teens with a taste for old fashioned books should also appreciate it. The second oldest daughter narrates as she observes the hotel owner, the employees, the guests, and her own siblings. Highly recommended and something different for book clubs to discuss, although finding copies may be difficult.

UPDATE: Reread on 12/15/22. I always forget so much of this book between rereads. The general plot of British children left alone in a French hotel while their mother is hospitalized stays with me, as does the watchfulness of the 13 year old narrator. I remember the power the older sister unconsciously has over various men, and the stifling atmosphere of the hot summer.

The occasional casual racism of the book was even more jarring and cringy in 2022. I wonder how much of that is of the times, or if it’s exacerbated by the British author’s own absorbed beliefs after being raised in India.

There’s almost a gothic feel to the story even if it is not the setting a reader would expect for that genre. Maybe it’s the closed in feeling; other than visits to their mother the children’s days are spent at the hotel, on the grounds and in the nearby surrounding area. Throughout, there is a foreshadowing of evil doings that is slowly revealed.

Having only read a couple of other titles by this author, which were both children’s books, I should probably give a try to some of her other adult novels. It’s likely that I’ll revisit The Greengage Summer at some point again, though.

I don't remember where I heard about this book, which came out in the 1950s, but I'm glad I did. It's an incredibly evocative coming-of-age novel about five English children who stay in a hotel in the French countryside in the 1920s. Almost immediately upon arrival, their mother is hospitalized with some kind of infection, and with no other adults present, they are cared for, in a kind of lackadaisical way, by a charming and mysterious Englishman who is also staying at the hotel. The second oldest child, a girl named Cecil, is the narrator, and the oldest sister, Joss, is at the center of the story. Joss is 16, and has just become incredibly beautiful, which attracts, well, every man around her, but definitely Eliot, the mysterious Englishman, although I think he knows he must not, with this 16-year-old. Jealousies swirl. The hotel owner, Madame Zizi, is mad about Eliot, and the hotel manageress, is mad about Madame Zizi, and these children are throwing everything off at the hotel.

But the French countryside is so lovely in this telling, the plums hanging heavily in the trees, the smells and sounds of the hotel. The writing is lyrical, and Cecil is a great narrator, noticing everything, having her heart broken again and again. The other kids are good characters, too.

Spoilers below:




















The ending was a rollercoaster, wasn't it? Right along with Cecil, I was recognizing more and more things about Eliot, some of them very bad things. The murder of Paul! The drugging of Willmouse- a small child drugged for two straight days! Eliot might have killed him. And then- at the end- Eliot's care of these kids wound up almost certainly costing him his freedom, because he sent the telegram to their uncle. I also liked how this author described the power of Joss's new sexuality, how it was this sudden enormous thing that she somehow had to figure out how to handle.

4.5*

I know I first read The Greengage Summer as a girl, and was mostly puzzled then at how different it was from Godden's children's books - how unsettled and lacking in resolution. Reading it again as an adult, it was absolutely glorious, redolent of summer, and smarting with the realization of ambiguity that is so important to the best coming-of-age novels.

I was looking for something light having read a couple of long books recently. I heard this reviewed by Harriet Gilbert on BBC Radio 4 “A Good Read” and WOW this book didn’t disappoint.
This 13 year old's tale of a summer spent at a hotel in France during the 1920's is magnificent. There are events and occurrences. All the long days glorious halcyon days and outings of freedom. A great and exciting last 30-40 pages. On top of being a great read I learnt lots of new French terms – Cherchant partout (Searching everywhere) and many more. I will read this again as it was pure pleasure.

Beautiful and brilliant. I have loved other books by Rumer Godden but had somehow neglected to pick this one up until recently. Once I started reading I could hardly stop. This is my kind of page-turner. It has a compelling plot, but it also has rich characters, a wonderful coming-of-age narrator, and very effective structural elements. It all reads as natural and effortless, but once I realized how different the whole novel would be without the frequent conversational asides to Uncle William, I could appreciate just how much thought and effort went into the writing.
Though the story centers around a group of children, the subject matter is sometimes disturbing. There are some very dark realities in this European, post-war world and Godden does not flinch from including them, and yet the whole story and every character are rendered with so much compassion. This book is sad and funny and so very hopeful.

I was recently reminded of this book by Godden, which I had read several years ago. I recall enjoying it and think that perhaps I should refresh my memory and read it again!

What can I say? Loved it! My first Rumer Godden and I daresay it will not be the last. I wanted the story to go on and on.

I want to make a quick note of two cute references she had in there: the children called their patchy clothes their "scarecrows"...I loved that. And because it was a family of 5, they referred to the youngest children as the Littles...and we do the same thing! Only we have the Middles too.

This is another book by Rumer Godden with children as the main characters. I didn't care for The River or Peacock Spring, and I didn't like this one either. Although this one was the best of the three.

This is most definitely a coming of age book for the protagonist as well as her older sister. Set in post WW II France, there are five children, aged 5 to 16 who are brought there on holidays when their mother becomes ill. They are left in the care of a man it's better to learn about reading the book. I've shelved this y/a in that I can see teens reading it, but it's not written with that audience in mind, and I would say falls into adult literary fiction. As the season progresses for the greengage plums so it does with what the children see and learn; this also goes for what happens when they eat too many of them.

The story is written as a memory by Cecil (a girl's name) who is the second eldest, but her memories are helped by others who were there.

The greengage is a very sweet, green plum.