In a Land of Paper Gods

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.