Joinson possesses an extraordinary ability to conjure exotic details, such as the curled, dried roots and animal feet hung up to dry in the market, the cinnamon-hued papery bark of the Acer griseum and the dark-red Tibetan lady’s-slipper orchids blooming in the missionaries’ garden, and the sand-whipped air that reaches even their innermost room during a desert sandstorm.Īlternating chapters unfold the tale of Frieda, an untethered young Englishwoman who frequently travels to Asia and the Middle East to research reports on contemporary life, and Tayeb, a homeless man who has fled Yemen and ended up in London, on Frieda’s doorstep. From this portentous beginning, their odyssey unravels through a series of encounters with local women, Chinese and Central Asian merchants and functionaries, and fellow Western missionaries. The missionaries, Millicent Frost and sisters Elizabeth and Evangeline English, are travelling from England to the desert wilds of Kashgar to convert the Muslim locals when, before they even reach the Silk Road city’s gates, an unanticipated emergency leaves them taking care of an orphaned baby-and accused of murder.
In this richly crafted fictional debut, author Suzanne Joinson straddles time and geography with the interwoven tale of three missionaries in rural China in the 1920s and a young woman and a homeless Yemeni man in contemporary London. Book of the Month: A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar, by Suzanne Joinson
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