"Rungli-Rungliot means in Paharia" begins the title. Rumer Godden spent several months in a bungalow (Chinglam) on a spine of the upper Himalayas; this is her story of the life she found there.

The book starts:

"There are only a few things in these notes:
-Chinglam and its hills and valleys
-Work
-Flowers
-Children
-Animals
-Servants
There is nothing else because there was nothing else."

Such an honest, understated opening. This is the story - notes from a diary - of a young woman (a writer & a mother) living a very unique and isolated existence during WWII: on a tea garden at the foot of the Himalayas. The notes are accompanied by drawings by some Tomtyn Hopman, though the writing itself is lyrical and imaginative enough.

The story is autobiographical (names changed or abbreviated) but the situation: young mother with children - absent husband - out of their element (as in, in a foreign place). . . it seems to repeat with other people's lives, though at the moment I can't think of any other than my own mother. . .

For the record (and to brag) I have the original version of the book, "Rungli-Runliot" published by London: Peter Davies.

Ultimately: it is a sweet little volume with some moving, exposing, sections - glimpses into Rumer Godden's thoughts and mind and state. . . ( )