"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

"Clear" by Carys Davies

A short (3hr) audio book.

1840s. John Ferguson (some sections are from his PoV), married to Mary (about 40), is now part of the break-away Free Church. Poor, he's doing a job for land-owner Strachen which will mean he's a month away from home. He arrives on a remote Scottish island in "the silvery murk of the afternoon" to evict Ivor, a loner who Strachen thinks is a simpleton. He brings eviction notes and a gun. He's taken language lessons - Ivor's only language is related to Shetland, and he may be its only speaker. John stays in the Barker's abandoned house. He has an accident and is unconscious for a day or so.

Ivor (some sections are from his PoV) finds John's photo of Mary and falls in love. He finds John unconscious, carries him to his hovel, and looks after him, falling in love with him instead. Ivor was ill last year. Now he fishes and knits. Peggy the horse is his best friend.

John learns Ivor's language - the many words for sea and cloud. Nouns first. Ivor finds John's gun and works out what's going on. Mary pawns her ring and follows him - to save him doing something unpleasant just for money, for her.

We're led to believe that intimacy takes place between the men. I don't think this is meant to surprise us. When Mary arrives she understands and suggests that both of the men return to the mainland with her. And Peggy too.

Other reviews

• Clare Clark (despite moments of affecting poignancy, too often it feels underwritten, even thin. ... John Ferguson is granted a mere four weeks on Ivar’s island, four weeks into which must be compressed not only his recovery but the slow unfurling of a deep and transformational friendship. It is not enough.)
• Stuart Kelly (a story about the hard-won acquisition of clarity.)