The Mission House by Carys Davies

"What was it, exactly, that he liked so much? Was it because it had an aura of home, or because it felt completely strange and new?"~from The Mission House by Carys Davies

I enjoyed Carys Davies last novel West so immediately requested his new novel The Mission House. 

Hillary Byrd was no longer comfortable in a changed England and sought escape by traveling to India. He was still miserable until he learned about the beautiful climate of the hills. He rents the house of a missionary on leave and discovers the village has all the comforts he requires, the legacy of the British army. For the first time in years he was content.

His host, a padre, has taken in a young woman, Priscilla, and asks Byrd to help polish her education to fit her for marriage. While teaching her English and sewing and baking, Byrd is drawn to her. The padre despairs for her future after he is gone and seeks a husband. Byrd is jealous.

Priscilla may be deformed and dependent, but she has dreams and is determined to make her own future.

Byrd can't escape the tribalism running rampant in the world, people "wanting to be surrounded only by people who were the same as they were," seeking an imaginary ideal past. He left it behind in England only to fatally discover it alive in India.

Byrd is condescending toward the natives; even his love for Priscilla is a parable of colonialism. Byrd uses his dedicated native driver thoughtlessly, spilling out his thoughts and grievances on their daily jaunts, but he never sees the man as a person. The ending is both ironic and tragic, Byrd's last action misguided but noble.

The novel wields a big impact in 272 pages. The writing is quiet and introspective, but there is a powerful story here.

I received a free galley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Mission House
by Carys Davies
Scribner
Pub Date: February 16, 2021
ISBN: 9781982144838
hardcover $24.00 (USD)

from the publisher:

From the multiple award-winning author of West and The Redemption of Galen Pike, a captivating and propulsive novel following an Englishman seeking refuge in a remote hill town in India who finds himself caught in the crossfire of local tensions and violence.

Fleeing his demons and the dark undercurrents of contemporary life in the UK, Hilary Byrd takes refuge in a former British hill station in South India. Charmed by the foreignness of his new surroundings and by the familiarity of everything the British have left behind, 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.