"The mission house" by Carys Davies

Hilary Byrd, 54, getting hot in India, heads to tea plantations, staying in a missionary bungalow though he's not religious. Priscilla, the deformed cleaner, was found as a baby in bullrushes. The Padre might be trying to find a husband for her. Hilary is single, escaping mental problems caused by his UK library job where they introduced community hub activities. He stays in touch with his sister Wyn back in England. Jamshed drives him around after he has an accident. His cousin Ravi can speak English and makes use of the extra money to further his hoped-for country western music career.

Byrd reads about the English development of the town. He learns about the local religions. He confides in Jamshed about his past - how Wyn had to look after him for a while. He knits and makes cakes with Priscilla, falling in love. Meanwhile Priscilla spends time with Ravi (who's bought a horse). She makes herself a cowgirl outfit. When the padre seeks a christian man for Priscilla, Byrd starts going to church and grows a beard. Henry Page, a young handsome missionary, offers to marry Priscella. Byrd doesn't realise that his barber (Ravi) is friends with Priscella. He decides to leave. On the day of his departure, Jamshed locks him up to miss his train. Meanwhile Henry and is about to fly over from Canada when he meets a pretty girl and changes his mind. That night, 5 religious terrorists who blame Christians for the weakening of their religion, enter the bungalow and ask the man there if he's "Henry Page". After some thought, Byrd replies yes and they kill him. There was some foreshadowing of the crime.

The tragic character portrait of Byrd (his past, his nostalgia for an older England (which he finds in India), his friendship with Jamshed, his willingness to change) and the counterpointing comedy of the affair between West[ern] oriented Ravi and Priscella (one expects them to marry) seemed to dawdle in places, key points being repeated.

Other reviews

• Tanjil Rashid (The brand names around Ooty (“Modern Stores”, “Global Internet Cafe”) parody perfectly that postcolonial insecurity about being “backward”. ... Byrd is like so many others, from beatniks to empire loyalists, who form a connection not with real Indians but with a fantasy of India fashioned out of their own ideological prejudices and psychological needs.)
• Susan Blumberg-Kason