A Book Addict's Musings by Readinghearts

A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar is the debut book for author Suzanne Joinson and as such it is a pretty good effort. The book is told from two perspectives, one in the early 1900s and the other in current time. At first, this made the book seem very disjointed to me, especially since there seemed to be two stories going on in the present day, but as the story unfolded, it became clear that the three stories were related and would ultimately join into one story. From the start, I enjoyed the current day story of Frieda, a Londoner who travels extensively in the Middle East. Unfortunately, I found the story from the earlier time period a bit disjointed and hard to follow. The earlier story centers around three women missionaries who are living in Kashgar. As it begins, they find themselves in an unusual and dangerous situation, which is only made worse by their attempts at conversion. The plot set up has all the requirements of a great story about a little known time and place. Unfortunately, while the story is good, it does not deliver the hoped for greatness. To begin with, the characters of the missionaries, although quirky, seem somewhat lackluster. In addition, what I felt would be the most interesting part of the story was totally glossed over. It says something that the most enjoyable part of the book was the completely ordinary story of Frieda in current day London. I would have loved to have seen the author right a more compelling story that focused on the quirks and relationships of the missionary women and/or the situation that bound them to Kashgar. All in all a good book, but it could have been great.