I loved Carys Davies's first novel, West, and after The Mission House I consider myself a fully paid-up member of her fan club. Davies has a gift for writing deftly about the every day, for getting beneath the skin of seemingly ordinary people and creating evocative and emotional stories around them.

The Mission House follows a small group of people living in a remote hill station in South India in the early 2010s. The threads of the plot and the characters are weaved so elegantly together that despite the slow, almost languid tone of the first two thirds of the novel, I found myself on the edge of my seat as the book drew to its conclusion, which is both hopeful and melancholy. The book is deceptive in its simplicity.

I thoroughly recommend it and can't wait to see what Davies writes next.

Lovely read set in the small town of Ooty India.Wonderful atmosphere characters story.I was drawn in and really enjoyed the story.#netgalley #granatabooks

I enjoyed reading this book.

It is well plotted, the characters are well developed and I found myself genuinely touched by each character's plight, as pitiful as they may be. The most pitiful character being that of Hilary, a man so much in pain that he is oblivious to the pain of others. There are light moments too, for instance the times spent baking, sewing and reading children fairy tales with his "pupil" or the young ones' fascination and bonding over country music. Themes of post-colonialism, growing Hindu nationalism, mental illness, discrimination and social isolation, are engaged with. But one can easily read and enjoy the whole novel without giving any of those much thought.

Perhaps that's why this is rated as a 3 rather than a 4 (given the option I would have given it 3.5 stars). One can easily enjoy the novel for its quality and quite as easily move on from it, which is not necessarily an issue, but ultimately I prefer books which, for better or worse, leave their mark.

Many thanks to Granta Publications and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#TheMissionHouse #NetGalley

This is a beautiful book, which perfectly encapsulates the town of Ooty, Tamil Nadu. I would still have enjoyed the tale of the sad librarian if I hadn’t travelled to Ooty, the gentle characters are wonderfully drawn. I will look out for further books by Carys Davies.

This is a marvellous book. The colour, the noise, the chaos and the dialogue transport me directly to south India right from the first page. 'Incomprehensible, foreign and strange' are the author's words, echoing my first impressions of India, a place that cast its spell over me just as it does the main character of the book. There are so many little details that bring the scene vividly to life, whether in the bustling streets of the town or the quiet of the Mission House.

From the start I asked myself why Byrd was there, and what the mystery is that involves the police. All is revealed gently and steadily throughout the narrative.

The characters are all interesting and believable: Byrd the depressive ex-librarian learning to fend for himself; Jamshed the auto rickshaw driver who is an ever-open ear for Byrd's thoughts which find their way into his journal; the Padre with his sad life; orphan Priscilla who is the subject of so many people's schemes but who has plans of her own; Ravi the hairdresser with his dreams of greatness.

The book has an old'-fashioned feel, but is right up-to-date with the tensions in India on the one hand, and Byrd's discomfort with the modern world of libraries stripped of dictionaries to make way for technology on the other. There are so many subtle comments about today's society which are never blatant but always sit comfortably in the narrative.

Until now I was not aware of Carys Davies, but thanks to NetGalley I will certainly be reading more of her work.

I was attracted to "The Mission House" by a description which categorised the novel as post-colonial literature which I enjoy, especially when it is set in India.
In the afterword author Carys Davies explains that the setting is based on the former British hill station, Ootacamund in Tamil Nadu and, having looked at the map of "Ooty", I can see many of the places described so vividly in the novel which is fascinating. The novel's characters are sympathetically depicted and I think that most readers will recognise one or two who remind them of people they know. Also worth a mention is the weather, which is a character in itself and must have baffled many old colonial types. This pleasant setting and the (mainly) gentle community seem light years away from any religiously motivated unrest which is going on in the rest of this vast country ...
This is India at a time of immense change. Some people are clinging to the old colonial ways and culture, others are discovering the culture of the USA, others are living each day as it comes, and some want to forge a new - and nationalist - Hindu India. The reader experiences this mainly through the eyes and exploits of a socially inept English depressive travelling alone.
I really enjoyed this read until I neared the end which I think is a bit abrupt; I need to know what happened next on that final day. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for giving me a copy of the novel in exchange for this honest review. 4.75 stars.

Oh this was such a beautifully written story. The characters were so vividly drawn, than I really didn’t want the story to end.
Librarian Hilary Byrd, has come to India to escape the anxieties of the modern world. A chance meeting on a train leads him to the Mission House in a small hill town, where he is offered a cheap room, space to heal and the freedom to explore his surroundings guided by a local auto rickshaw driver Jamshed. By day he visits the botanical gardens, shops for food, eats lunch at a local hotel, spends time reading at the library, before returning home, and eating with the Padre and his adopted daughter Priscilla.

Such a cast of characters... from Hilary who was forced to leave his job after many years because he didn’t like how ‘modern’ libraries were becoming, with rude people, noisy customers, and declining poetry sections.

Then we have Jamshed, who keeps a diary of the events of his day so that he can practice his English and whose nephew Ravi the hairdresser dreams of becoming a country and western singer Padre who has lost his wife, and dreams that one day his church and he will be attached by religious extremists.

And finally Priscilla, the girl who was abandoned by her mother, brought up in an orphanage and who discovers the music of Patsy Cline.

Ultimately Hilary finds confidence, and a sense of purpose, perhaps even love, and is able to sacrifice himself to ensure the happiness of someone else.

Hilary Byrd is a man struggling with the modern world , he arrives in India hoping to find some solution and is driven up into the foothills of the Himalayas by the press and business of the modern subcontinent. Here he finds peace at last , a place where he can live simply as a guest of the Padre in the "Mission house." Still even here the modern world leaches in and the needs and exigencies of the priest seeking a husband for his ward, Priscilla who limps and has no thumbs, the Rickshaw driver , Jamshed and his nephew Ravi begin to impact.
As in years before the British took refuge in the tea plantations so does Hilary seek escape but we slowly we realise the peace is only in his mind , that he slips through modern India without being touched by the concerns of others, Priscilla has her own ideas about rescue and her future, Jamshed is poor and lonely and the priest has very real fears for the safety of his christian community.
Hilary's struggles to fill the space left by a young canadian missionary to take a more active role and finds himself in a place he could never imagine.
It is a gentle book and as much about colonial blindness as a love story and right of passage , it's characters are flawed and blind in different ways but is perhaps a mirror held up to modern India and the people who seek respite there.