The River

A Virago Modern Classic

By: Rumer Godden, Anita Desai (Introduction by), Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Introduction by)

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Paperback | 18 November 2025 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
192 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.61 x 12.4 x 1.19

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By the bestselling author of Black Narcissus and The Greengage Summer
'The River will make you laugh, make you cry and, in its way, change you forever' JULIE MYERSON

'Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES

'Bold, beautiful . . . everyone's appetites will be satisfied' ELLE

The River is Rumer Godden's beautiful tribute to India and childhood, made into a film by Jean Renoir. And in a preface for this novel she explains how the classic tale came to be written.

Harriet is caught between two worlds: her older sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a little boy. And the comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood - the sounds of the jute factory, the colourful festivals that accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the river on its journey to the Bay of Bengal - is about to be shattered by a tragic event.

Intense, vivid, and with a dark undertow, The River is a poignant portrait of the loss of a young girl's innocence.

Industry Reviews

A small masterpiece, a near perfect account of how childhood has to come to an end and the serpent must enter the garden . . . In The River she celebrates a passion for the people, colours, sounds and even the smells of India . . . She evokes, in simple, flawless prose, a young girl's first encounters with jealousy, sex, guilt and death. - The Spectator

The River will make you laugh, make you cry and, in its way, change you forever

One of our best and most captivating novelists

[Godden's] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal - Guardian

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