When my husband asked me how I was enjoying A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar (#195) as I was reading it, I had to stop and think before I could answer him. I finally decided to tell him that the story itself was interesting enough, but I didn't like a single one of the characters. By the time I finished Suzanne Joinson's book, I hadn't changed my opinion.
In 1923, Kashgar is an uneasy western outpost of the Chinese in a heavily Moslem region. This is where Evangeline English and her sister Lizzie accompany the enigmatic and forceful Millicent Frost to found a Christian mission there. They are not welcome, and are immediately placed under house arrest for murder for their part in a delivery gone wrong when the mother dies. Their story is intertwined with that of Frieda, who has just returned to her London flat after months abroad working for some vague foundation promoting Anglo-Muslim relations, and is angry that her married boyfriend does not show up to greet her, but finds a homeless Yemeni man sleeping outside her door instead. There is a connection between these two stories, which wasn't too difficult to figure out early on.
I have the feeling that the author would find me too bourgeois to appreciate her work, but I disliked all the characters in this book. Liars, cheats, hypocrites and deceivers all, with no moral compass to ground them, or us, the readers. We're supposed to admire them, I guess, but I couldn't get around their absolute willingness to gain their own ends at the expense of everyone else's happiness.
This book is being pushed heavily by the publisher, but I think there are many, many books out there much more worthy of your time and attention.
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