What a disappointment. Three women set out for adventure and to convert the natives in Arabia. The older strident missionary is also a lesbian who seems to keep her female converts enthralled, even to their deaths. The Cyclist adopts a newborn when the 14y/o mother dies giving birth in the sand. This baby becomes Irene the grandmother of the modern protagonist, Frieda, who inherits Irene's council apartment and a live owl. Frieda finds her hippy mother to ask her about Irene, gets no satisfaction then seems to take off to live with a homeless Turkish artist stranded in UK. What a mishmash plot and a waste of good reading time. Frieda is poorly developed, we don't understand her motivations or her strength and in the end we don't care what happened to her. We have no idea how the old Irene got to England and why she had an owl for a pet. Reading this book is like wading through molasses and the ending is unsatisfactory for all that work.

Bit of a let down. It seemed like it was going to be so good, but did not fulfill my expectations.

I did not finish this one. I found it hard to follow the two parallel stories. Don't bother with this one.

Interesting concept but the story didn't live up to the hype. I didn't finish it.

Welcome to Kashgar, oasis on the edge of the Takla Makan desert, 1923. Adventurous Evangeline English has faked finding God so she can travel with missionaries and escape dreary Britain. While giving the appearance of working to save locals’ souls, she secretly drafts a women’s travel guide about cycling in far-flung places. However, regional cultural and religious tensions are exacerbated by the presence of the missionaries, and Eva soon finds herself fleeing for her life through the Takla Makan desert, an abandoned infant in tow. Meanwhile, in present day London, England, Frieda has just returned from a work assignment in the Middle East to find a death notice for a relative she’s never known, named Irene Guy. A grown child of hippies who severed their roots when they moved to the commune, Frieda’s been content to lose her family as she builds a more stable, rational life for herself. But as she investigates her connection to Irene, Frieda’s forced to confront her past and her family history. The two plots dovetail in spare, striking language to reveal a family left in tatters by casual experiments with colonialism, spirituality and love. It's a beautifully crafted story, sensually told, and deeply evocative of the places its characters inhabit. A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar is very highly recommended to anyone seeking a fast-paced summer read with substance, brains and style.

Welcome to Kashgar, oasis on the edge of the Takla Makan desert, 1923. Adventurous Evangeline English has faked finding God so she can travel with missionaries and escape dreary Britain. While giving the appearance of working to save locals’ souls, she secretly drafts a women’s travel guide about cycling in far-flung places. However, regional cultural and religious tensions are exacerbated by the presence of the missionaries, and Eva soon finds herself fleeing for her life through the Takla Makan desert, an abandoned infant in tow. <br /> Meanwhile, in present day London, England, Frieda has just returned from a work assignment in the Middle East to find a death notice for a relative she’s never known, named Irene Guy. A grown child of hippies who severed their roots when they moved to the commune, Frieda’s been content to lose her family as she builds a more stable, rational life for herself. But as she investigates her connection to Irene, Frieda’s forced to confront her past and her family history. <br /> The two plots dovetail in spare, striking language to reveal a family left in tatters by casual experiments with colonialism, spirituality and love. It's a beautifully crafted story, sensually told, and deeply evocative of the places its characters inhabit. *A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar* is very highly recommended to anyone seeking a fast-paced summer read with substance, brains and style.<br />

It just isn't a very well-written book. The premise is unique, but neither story -- from the past or modern day -- was made interesting by the author. So I quit before I got too far in.

This novel moves back and forth between 1923 Kashgar and the Silk Road and the present day in England. In 1923 Evangeline has signed up as a missionary for the group Missionary Order of the Steadfast Face, along with her sister Elizabeth. They are led by Millicent, a forthright woman. Eva has brought her bicycle with her and hopes to write a book about her experiences. Elizabeth is an avid photographer and has brought her camera, but is often lost in a dreamy world of her own. When the small group of women encounter a girl in childbirth they try to help and end up being accused of a crime. Eva is asked to take care of the infant, and grows attached to her. But there is unrest in the area, and the women's position grows increasingly precarious. Eva must find the strength to survive and adjust to the new environment. Her bicycle has given her some independence and she is reluctant to leave it behind. In the present day, a young man from Yemen, in England illegally is targeted after being seen drawing intricate pictures of birds on a wall. He leaves his home and in his wanderings encounters Frieda, a young woman working to understand young people from a variety of emerging nations. Frieda is going through change in her personal life and when she finds herself in charge of the personal possessions of a woman who has died, she struggles to make sense of them and find the connection between her and the woman, Irene. I loved the bird theme that came through the novel and the sense of other. A wonderful read that takes you to another world.