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The Mission House

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The Mission House

By: Carys Davies
Narrated by: Raj Ghatak
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About this listen

From the prize-winning author of West, a collision between old and new, east and west, in a former British hill station in contemporary South India.

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.

©2020 Carys Davies (P)2020 W. F. Howes Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Fiction
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Beautifully written, unusual storyline and evocative. Beautifully read. Would choose another audio narrated by Raj Ghatak as he read this so perfectly.

The Mission House

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Upfront, I really enjoyed Carys Davies other novel and her short stories so this was likely to be the same. However, it absolutely was just a lovely novel. She inhabits characters so well, and Hilary Byrd no less than her best. It is quite a haunting listen. Very well read by the narrator.

Beautiful

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A little old fashioned in style - it's the well worn English man in a hill station trope - but rather beautifully redone for modern india. Lovely language, horrible end.⁠⁠ The images from the book have stayed with me long past reading it

Caught the cadences of modern Tamil english

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