Marta is unhappy. For quietly aloof Gregory and his sister Janet, Marta, with her thick Ukrainian accent, her good cooking, and her stories, is the anchor of the house. Mother and Father, both busy architects, are gone all day and sometimes at night. Marta is always there; and the children, sensing her unhappiness, do not want her to go away. When they find out that Marta desires a good place in the kitchen, nine-year-old Gregory, with precocious young Janet in tow, sets out to find her a Ukrainian icon in busy, modern London. Master storyteller Rumer Godden deftly brings to life a portrait of a lonely boy discovering the creative power of love.
--This text refers to an alternate
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Margaret Rumer Godden, born in 1907 in Sussex, England, spent most of her younger years in India, where her parents gave her and her two sisters many opportunities to mingle with Indian people while educating their daughters at home. Both parents' gift of storytelling would kindle similar gifts, developed even further, in their children. In those early years there was all the time in the world to think, Rumer Godden said. Even our lessons were at a slow pace. *
Later, in England, young Miss Godden was encouraged in her writing talent by perceptive instructors at a school called Moira House. Having taken training in dance, Rumer Godden returned to India and opened a ballet school for both British and Indian children. After an unhappy marriage that left her in financial debt she and her daughters retreated to a cottage in the mountains of Kashmir. There she worked hard writing novels, drawing from the many experiences of both her worlds, European and Indian. By the 1940s Rumer Godden was becoming an acclaimed author. In the course of a lifetime she would write over 60 books and be named a Member of the Order of the British Empire. In the 1940s Rumer Godden returned to England. Here she began to write books for children with all the craftsmanship she dedicated to her adult novels. She is perhaps best known for her stories about dolls, a series, that is, according to May Hill Arbuthnot, unsurpassed in variety and charm, for her dolls have distinct personalities and in her books they talk and act in character (Children and Books). In The Kitchen Madonna we see Miss Godden's perennial interest in those individuals with a special contribution to make who do not fit easily into simple categories. Ruth Hill Viguers writes, Rumer Godden's intuitive understanding of children that gives such special life to her books about children was never more evident than it is in The Kitchen Madonna (A Critical History of Children's Literature).
Continuing to write, and succeed, in many fields including adaptation to the screen, Miss Godden remained in the British Isles, becoming a Roman Catholic, marrying happily a second time, and retiring eventually in Scotland. She died in 1998.
* Information and quotations, except where noted, are drawn from the profile in Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults Vol 3, Detroit, Gale Research, Inc, 1993; and from the profile by Jean Russell in Twentieth Century Children's Authors, Chicago and London, St James Press, 1989. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Later, in England, young Miss Godden was encouraged in her writing talent by perceptive instructors at a school called Moira House. Having taken training in dance, Rumer Godden returned to India and opened a ballet school for both British and Indian children. After an unhappy marriage that left her in financial debt she and her daughters retreated to a cottage in the mountains of Kashmir. There she worked hard writing novels, drawing from the many experiences of both her worlds, European and Indian. By the 1940s Rumer Godden was becoming an acclaimed author. In the course of a lifetime she would write over 60 books and be named a Member of the Order of the British Empire. In the 1940s Rumer Godden returned to England. Here she began to write books for children with all the craftsmanship she dedicated to her adult novels. She is perhaps best known for her stories about dolls, a series, that is, according to May Hill Arbuthnot, unsurpassed in variety and charm, for her dolls have distinct personalities and in her books they talk and act in character (Children and Books). In The Kitchen Madonna we see Miss Godden's perennial interest in those individuals with a special contribution to make who do not fit easily into simple categories. Ruth Hill Viguers writes, Rumer Godden's intuitive understanding of children that gives such special life to her books about children was never more evident than it is in The Kitchen Madonna (A Critical History of Children's Literature).
Continuing to write, and succeed, in many fields including adaptation to the screen, Miss Godden remained in the British Isles, becoming a Roman Catholic, marrying happily a second time, and retiring eventually in Scotland. She died in 1998.
* Information and quotations, except where noted, are drawn from the profile in Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults Vol 3, Detroit, Gale Research, Inc, 1993; and from the profile by Jean Russell in Twentieth Century Children's Authors, Chicago and London, St James Press, 1989. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An unsentimental tale of a young boy's devotion to his nanny,
By awuebbels@hotmail.com (New York City) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Kitchen Madonna (Hardcover)
Rumer Godden delivers another unsentimental children's story that explores the quiet devotion that Peter has to his Ukranian housekeeper. A solitary boy who does not liked to be kissed or hugged, Peter scours London for a "Kitchen Madonna " that will make his homesick nanny feel welcome. In the course of his search, Peter makes new allies and discovers that even he needs the warmth and companionship of his family and neighbors.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite book...,
This review is from: The Kitchen Madonna (Hardcover)
Let me put it to you this way...I am considering buying this book for $45 and I am a poor college student. The most touching story of childhood generosity ever.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A heartwarming story,
By Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Kitchen Madonna (Hardcover)
Rumer Godden is a consummate storyteller--and this is one of her most accessible tales.
Peter is a very introverted little boy, perhaps because he has been taken care of by a string of nannies and housekeepers or perhaps he is just that way by nature. But his latest housekeeper/nanny is Marta, a Ukranian who barely speaks English. She is an unhappy exile from her homeland, and is sad because the kitchen has no "good place"-- an altar with candles and an icon of Mary and the Infant Jesus. At home, the kitchen would have been a warm and cozy place with a candle-lit icon twinkling with little jewels in a dim corner. For some reason, Marta's inchoate expression of her homesickness touches Peter, and he goes about making an icon for Marta. The story of how he finds materials to make the icon including foiled toffee wrapper "jewels" is a great little adventure and the puzzlement of Peter's parents, who have written him off as cold and strange is delightful. In the end, both Peter and the family are changed by the "good place" in the kitchen but more so by the lesson that doing something wholly for someone else has rich rewards.
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