In the few years since Black Narcissus was published, Rumer Godden at first enjoyed the distinction of being considered a real discovery and then, with each new book, a novelist of growing stature and importance.  The originality of her writing, its enchantment and subtlety and vividness, won for her hundreds of thousands of devoted readers. Black Narcissus, hailed by the critics of England and America with unqualified praise, soon became an international best-seller, and now in the Modern Library series it achieves the permanence it so richly deserves.