Rumer Godden

Rumer Godden was brought up in India at the turn of the century. Her father worked for the Bengal Steamship Company and the family travelled around the India of The British Raj quite a bit. Rumer was a precocious child and wrote her auto-biography when she was only 6! As she grew up she became fascinated by the Indian peoples and the Hindu religion, especially their frank and open attitudes to sexuality in stark contrast to the British attitude prevalent at the time. She met Laurence Foster in the famous Tollygunge club in Calcutta. After a brief affair, Rumer became pregnant & they were married in Calcutta Cathedral. She never really loved him though and was almost relieved when their baby died after just 4 days. Foster was a keen sportsman and was soon travelling all over India playing golf and polo, leaving Rumer to her own devices. She opened a dancing school in Calcutta but, when she admitted Eurasian girls, the school was assumed to be a front for a brothel and she was ostracised