Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2017.
A brilliantly distinctive debut set in China in the Second World War, IN A LAND OF PAPER GODS by Rebecca Mackenzie will appeal to readers who loved Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit or The Light Between Oceans.
Jiangxi Province, China, 1941. Atop the fabled mountain of Lushan perches a boarding school for the children of British missionaries. While her parents pursue their calling, ten-year-old Henrietta S. Robertson discovers that she, too, has been singled out by the Lord.
As Japanese invaders draw closer, Etta and her dorm mates retreat into a world where boundaries between make believe and reality become dangerously blurred. So begins a remarkable journey, through a mystical landscape and to the heart of a war.
A brilliantly distinctive debut set in China in the Second World War, IN A LAND OF PAPER GODS by Rebecca Mackenzie will appeal to readers who loved Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit or The Light Between Oceans.
Jiangxi Province, China, 1941. Atop the fabled mountain of Lushan perches a boarding school for the children of British missionaries. While her parents pursue their calling, ten-year-old Henrietta S. Robertson discovers that she, too, has been singled out by the Lord.
As Japanese invaders draw closer, Etta and her dorm mates retreat into a world where boundaries between make believe and reality become dangerously blurred. So begins a remarkable journey, through a mystical landscape and to the heart of a war.
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Reviews
Rebecca Mackenzie's vigorous prose is original and highly evocative. The untameable beauty of China's Lushan mountain and the dangers that lie beyond are echoed in the dramatic landscapes that Etta must navigate within herself. Her fate will linger in your thoughts long after the story ends
Such a wonderful voice, very funny and hugely moving
Really enjoyed IN A LAND OF PAPER GODS - a dreamlike tale, like a cross between Picnic at Hanging Rock and Empire of the Sun... lovely prose and a great setting
A beautifully poignant book... a story full of adolescent verve, young girls coming of age as the world around them falls apart, that remains somehow delightful, both playful and tender, as it breaks your heart. I loved it.
Henrietta S. Robertson is a beguiling, wilful and wonderfully realised creation, whose humour, imagination and yearning will captivate readers... this is a wonderful debut
Set in a missionary school in China... carries echoes of Empire of the Sun and The Poisonwood Bible
Mackenzie is a self-assured, poetic storyteller... This is a wonderful, special book. I inhaled it
An evocative and involving novel with a wonderful setting
Infused with a delicate, melancholy note of nostalgia, Mackenzie's depiction of a bygone world is vividly realised
This coming of age tale with a loveable protagonist, set in a fascinating time and a beautiful location is a breath-taking debut and one that will definitely capture many hearts, as it did my own
If you like your novels lyrical but pacy, look out for this beautiful debut
An imaginative and touching debut
Its pleasures come in discovering Etta's character, seeing her grow, and the atmosphere of melancholy and loss that infuses the book
A soaring work of the imagination... a beautifully written book, powerfully moving but surprisingly funny, too
A richly imagined novel that cleverly intertwines two cultures
[A] beautifully imagined novel, at times whimsical and at others harrowing
An intriguing, well told story, beautifully descriptive of the China of that period
A beautifully conjured debut
A beautifully written coming of age story