I feel like a need to make a shelf for "historical novels about women travelling" as it is a sort of favorite of mine. This was an intriguing read. The novel has two parallel threads, one set in 1923 in Asia and the other in contemporary London. The first plot is implied by the title. Evangeline English is travelling with her sister Lizzie and another missionary, the domineering Millicent to establish a mission somewhere along the Great Silk Road. Evangeline, ironically (due to her name), is actually non-religious and has come on the mission to satisfy her desire for travel and adventure. The book's title is also the title of the travel narrative she hopes to create from her adventures. The second plot is that of Frieda, whose job takes her frequently abroad, but who feels her connections with outside cultures is based on false pretenses, much like her lackluster affair with a married man. Frieda's life changes, however, when she receives word that she must clean out the flat of a mysterious woman, Irene Guy, an apparent relative of whom she has never heard. Nearly at the same time she finds a homeless Yemeni immigrant, Tayeb, sleeping in the corridor outside her apartment and loans him a pillow and blanket. Suddenly, Frieda is caught up in an intriguing web of familial and cultural connections that pull her out of her sterile connection with "global culture" and into the complex world of real human life and relations.

I was pulled in by the stories of Evangeline, Frieda and Tayeb, intrigued by the stories themselves and also by the way that the crosscurrents of history flow through our individual lives in ways we can only dimly comprehend. The writing is vivid and well-paced, not rushed but never dragging. The settings are intriguing in themselves and beautifully rendered and the plotlines kept my interest. On the surface, a fairly quick and simple read, but touching on deeper ideas of global society and history.