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.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2020 'A compelling read. Carys Davies has an amazing gift' Penelope Lively From the prize-winning author of West, a collision between old and new, east and west, in a former British hill station in South India. Fleeing the dark undercurrents of his 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. As Hilary's friendship with the young woman grows, he begins to wonder whether his purpose lies in this new relationship. But religious and nationalist tensions are brewing and the mission house may not be the safe haven it seems... 'Brilliantly crafted' Daily Mail 'An absolute triumph' Cynan Jones 'Subtle with nuance and alive with immediacy' Sunday Times

"The Mission House puts another genre, Raj fiction, to fresh purposes... The prevailing tone modulates between gentle humour and low-key poignancy... Subtle with nuance and alive with immediacy, again adroitly using small-scale effects to enlarge understanding and extend empathy, the resulting novel is a masterly achievement" - Sunday Times

"A novel about the pitfalls of human connection in contemporary India... Davies's use of [language] reveals an ear finely tuned to subcontinental peculiarities... The Mission House is an interesting take on a familiar trope: the westerner who finds in India deliverance from the wasteland of modernity" - Guardian

"Brilliantly crafted... Having subtly prepared the ground, Davies finally springs the jaws of her plot, revealing, heartbreakingly, to us and the tragically blinkered Hilary, what kind of story this really is" - Daily Mail

"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

"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