The River is a story of childhood in India, much although not all the story is a tribute to Rumer Godden's own childhood. In her preface to the novel Rumer Godden explains how the novel came to be written.
Four British siblings, who have been brought back from school in England are living at the side of a river, just along the road from the jute works. This is their world, the garden, the house, the servants, Indian festivals, the jute works and Captain John - who was once injured in the war. Harriet is a child often caught between her younger and older siblings. She writes, thinks a good deal, and sometimes plays with Bogey her young brother. Bogey loves insects and snakes, and hasn't much time for toys, many of which he has buried in the garden. Bogey is also rather good at "going-round-the-garden-without-being-seen." Harriet's world is about to be shattered, and some hard and bitter lessons about to be learned.
This is a beautiful and evocotive little novel, the child characters are a real delight, fully rounded little characters that leap shouting off the page.

Un piccolo perfetto gioiello.

Rumer Godden is the author of a great short story titled “Impunity Jane” which I love and have used in teaching English to adults and high school students. They have loved it too. The short story is about a little boy with a “pocket doll,” normally for girls, but Gideon plays with it as, perhaps, the world’s first action figure. There is adventure, humor, the developing of a conscience, and lessons learned in a charming way. The River is so different from the story that I was disappointed in it. It takes place in India, focused on an English family with daughters. Topics of war and love swim about willy-nilly. There is angst about growing up, of analyzing the relationships of others, and there are many thoughts and much contemplating about life, death, and meaning. However, it didn’t grab me by the heart or the intellect and it was quickly forgotten.

So reminiscent and sentimental of childhood and the thoughts and beliefs that occupied your brain.
Heartbreaking. And then it suddenly ends. Godden only gives us a glimpse.