THE MISSION HOUSE
U.K. ORDERS:
US ORDERS:
The Sunday Times
2020 Novel of the Year
Fleeing his demons and the dark undercurrents of life in the UK, Hilary Byrd takes refuge in a former British 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 a deeply human story of the wonders and terrors of connection in a modern world.
Reviews:
‘Beautifully done, with the same resonant concision as Carys Davies’s fine first novel West, it’s a haunting picture of colonialism’s long legacy’ —The Sunday Times Best Books of 2020: Novel of the Year
‘Enthralling...Carys Davies has followed her highly praised debut West with another jewel of a novel' —The Observer
‘The Mission House is an absolute triumph. That rare type of book—resoundingly tender, and gently heart-wrenching. Carys Davies doesn’t drop a sentence. I was deeply moved, and spellbound’ —Cynan Jones
‘Subtle with nuance and alive with immediacy… a masterly achievement’ —The Sunday Times
‘Astonishingly assured and gripping. Davies has a voice unlike any I’ve read: clean, otherworldly, eerily original, and capable of devastating effect’ —Julie Myerson
‘Luminous… an elegant tale that probes the jagged shadows of colonialism. Davies is a writer to watch--and to savor’ —O, The Oprah Magazine
‘Brilliantly crafted...Having subtly prepared the ground, Davies finally springs the jaws of her plot, revealing, heartbreakingly...what kind of story this really is’ —The Daily Mail
‘Davies follows up West with a stunning, understated novel... Told from alternating perspectives, this captivating, nuanced tale balances a pervading sense of melancholy with pockets of wry humor. Davies’s masterly elegy is not to be missed’ —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
‘Davies weaves her story with brevity and to devastating effect, drawing a portrait of an odd group of lonely people struggling to find a connection in a changing world’ —Radio Times
‘Wonderfully written—with the simplicity of fairy tale, the heft of fable and all the human sadness and joy of misfits’ —Bernard MacLaverty
‘Outstanding...she’s triumphed again. After her superb debut, the novelist excels in this poignant tale of lonely lives in India’ —The Sunday Times
‘The Mission House is a careful, quiet, skillful drama of well-meant misunderstandings and cultural divisions. The interactions are polite and repressed, but the story is galvanized by the “passion simmering under the surface of things. Always, every once in a while, the lid blowing off, and nothing, it seemed, that anyone could do to stop it happening”’ —The Wall Street Journal
‘Here is a novel; sparse, beautifully crafted and an intense account of human nature...The simmering, unfolding passions and loneliness become the essential core of the story. It is one of my favourite books of the year, understated and thoroughly wonderful’ —Emine, Waterstones Bromley
‘A subtle, masterly treasure’ —Robbie Arnott
‘Beautifully crafted’ —The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice*****
‘Davies (West, 2018) creates a world that is magical yet daubed with menace. Nuanced
characters, lush descriptions of South India, and an incisive look at class and religion make for a
rich and layered novel’ —Booklist (starred review)
‘I felt, reading this extraordinary novel, that the thorough oddity of its chief characters, their strange innocence, amounts to a revolt, on our behalf too, against the stupidity, cruelty, fanaticism and bigoted violence of the world in which they more or less successfully live their eccentric lives’ —David Constantine
‘Carys Davies is unlike anyone else I have ever read. She can say in one sublime sentence what most of us struggle to come up with in a page. And The Mission House is another triumph’ —Rachel Joyce
‘Davies summons up a man whose obvious failings and weaknesses live side by side with a heart-breaking kind of nobility. No words are wasted, yet her conjuring of place and character are rich and vivid. Davies’s tale feels timeless... a message of moral responsibility framed as quiet tragedy’ —The Times
‘Unsparing and shocking…At first glance a simply told tale, The Mission House has a twisted brilliance that is mesmerising’ —The Saturday Paper (Australia)
‘A quiet novel for unquiet times… a beautiful literary object’ —Times Literary Supplement
‘Lightly yet deftly crafted, hovering in tone somewhere between comedy, tragedy, and fable...Davies subtly synthesizes complex issues into a low-key yet compelling web of affecting destinies’ —Kirkus (starred review)
‘A novel about the pitfalls of human connection… This isn’t the India of unadulterated eastern spirituality... The Mission House truthfully reveals that the new realities of India will increasingly have their revenge on these tired old romances’ —The Guardian
‘A slantwise portrait of the recent rise of Hindu nationalism as seen (or not) through the eyes of a middle-aged Englishman... A delicately political tale that keeps the real drama largely below the surface, leaving the reader to gauge the extent of the protagonist’s self-deluding solipsism’ —Metro
‘What a fascinating novel' —The Observer
‘Beautifully poignant’ —The Glossary Magazine
‘A complex examination of the quietly tragic disjunction between Hilary Byrd’s flawed conception of his newfound home and the realities of life in an India that was never what the colonising force perceived it to be. The power of Davies’ novel lies in her articulation of that disjunction’ —The Irish Times
‘A singular voice… Davies’ writing is sublime’ —Toronto Star
‘Beautifully restrained…confirms the talent already demonstrated in her debut novel West… shows how a large canvas, depicting the history of countries and religious and political powers, is woven from the threads of ordinary lives' —Trouw (Netherlands)
‘A narrative of thwarted ambitions and secret desires that encompasses the intensely personal and the weight of numerous, and competing, pasts and presents… gripping’ —Wales Arts Review
‘Carys Davies' enthralling fictions carry us across time and continents, and bring interior worlds to life’ —Claire Messud
‘The grace with which Davies writes recalls Mick Jackson’s Booker-nominated The Underground Man …[she] has fashioned another terrific novel’ —Bookmunch
‘A triumph of resonant concision' - The Sunday Times 10 classic holiday reads: Peter Kemp's best novels and stories about travel from the past 60 years
'Good grief, Carys Davies never puts a foot wrong. The cleanness of her writing always knocks me for six and the characters here are drawn with such compassion. What a book’ —Jan Carson
‘Tender, playful, piercing, light-footed—this is an irresistible novel’ —Michelle de Kretser
‘A compelling read. Carys Davies has an amazing gift for summoning up a place, a situation, the characters. Her skill is that of brevity, nailing a personality with a few lines of dialogue, saying most by saying least’ —Penelope Lively
‘Beautifully understated and devastatingly poignant’ — Cogito Books
‘[a] quietly written and effortlessly readable novel about vulnerable private lives being tossed around by the wild currents of history' —The Sydney Morning Herald Pick of the Week
‘Precise and wonderful… an entrancing read... The Mission House feels at once historic and contemporary, old and new, known and unknown, and in its unobtrusive way it invites its reader – as the very best writing always does – to ask questions about the world we live in and the part we play in it’ —Nation. Cymru
‘Following her word perfect first novel West, a mini-epic American western masterpiece, Davies returns with a more intimate, introverted and reticent novel, that reminds me of a classic four-hander Chekhov play ... If West is Heminwayesque, this book reminded me of Graham Greene's The Quiet American. If that sounds like lofty company, it is not, Davies, in my opinion, is their equal…like Hemingway and Greene, Davies proves that writing is still about the subtle art of using words sparingly and deliberately and allowing the space for the reader to engage their imagination.’ —Terence, Waterstones Newry
‘The Mission House shows, once again, why Carys Davies has become one of my favourite writers. With not a word wasted, she creates complex, vivid characters, a story that surprises and an atmosphere that broods as we read on. I loved it’ —Simon Savidge, SavidgeReads