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The Mission House

The Mission House

Author(s): Carys Davies

Location(s): Ooty (Udagamandalam)

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): Contempoary

Location

Content

Fleeing the dark undercurrents of contemporary life in Britain, Hilary Byrd takes refuge in Ooty, a hill station in South India. There he finds solace in life’s simple pleasures, travelling by rickshaw around the small town with his driver Jamshed and staying in a mission house beside the local presbytery where the Padre and his adoptive daughter Priscilla have taken Hilary under their wing.

The Padre is concerned for Priscilla’s future, and as Hilary’s friendship with the young woman grows, he begins to wonder whether his purpose lies in this new relationship. But religious tensions are brewing and the mission house may not be the safe haven it seems.

The Mission House boldly and imaginatively explores post-colonial ideas in a world fractured between faith and non-belief, young and old, imperial past and nationalistic present. Tenderly subversive and meticulously crafted, it is is a deeply human fable of the wonders and terrors of connection in a modern world.

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: tripfiction

The Sunday Times cites The Mission House as their “Novel of the Year 2020“. And if that isn’t an accolade, then I don’t know what is! Hilary Byrd, from Petts Wood UK, arrives on...

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