Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2017.

A brilliantly distinctive debut set in China in the Second World War, IN A LAND OF PAPER GODS by Rebecca Mackenzie will appeal to readers who loved Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit or The Light Between Oceans.

Jiangxi Province, China, 1941. Atop the fabled mountain of Lushan perches a boarding school for the children of British missionaries. While her parents pursue their calling, ten-year-old Henrietta S. Robertson discovers that she, too, has been singled out by the Lord.

As Japanese invaders draw closer, Etta and her dorm mates retreat into a world where boundaries between make believe and reality become dangerously blurred. So begins a remarkable journey, through a mystical landscape and to the heart of a war.

"Set in a missionary school in China... carries echoes of Empire of the Sun and The Poisonwood Bible" - Observer (2016 Highlights)

"Infused with a delicate, melancholy note of nostalgia, Mackenzie's depiction of a bygone world is vividly realised" - Independent

"An evocative and involving novel with a wonderful setting" - Woman & Home

"A richly imagined novel that cleverly intertwines two cultures" - Daily Mail

"Mackenzie is a self-assured, poetic storyteller... This is a wonderful, special book. I inhaled it" - Red

"If you like your novels lyrical but pacy, look out for this beautiful debut" - Elle

"An imaginative and touching debut" - Good Housekeeping

"A soaring work of the imagination... a beautifully written book, powerfully moving but surprisingly funny, too" - Herald

"This coming of age tale with a loveable protagonist, set in a fascinating time and a beautiful location is a breath-taking debut and one that will definitely capture many hearts, as it did my own" - The Tattoed Book

"Its pleasures come in discovering Etta's character, seeing her grow, and the atmosphere of melancholy and loss that infuses the book" - Emerald Street

"[A] beautifully imagined novel, at times whimsical and at others harrowing" - Sunday Express S Magazine

"An intriguing, well told story, beautifully descriptive of the China of that period" - Choice

"A beautifully conjured debut" - Sainsbury’s Magazine

"A beautifully written coming of age story" - Red - Books of 2016