Why a Booktrail?
1865: An epic journey, a story of East meeting West, and of a love that transcends culture, faith and ultimately tragedy.
The Priest and the Lily
What you need to know before your trail
In 1865, Joseph, a young Jesuit priest and plant-hunter, sets out on a dangerous journey through Outer Mongolia, a land virtually unknown to the Western world. Charles Darwin’s radical theory of evolution has just been published, and Joseph is driven by his passion for science and his love of God. As he crosses the Mongolia Steppes with a Buddhist monk and a local horseman, he hears rumours of a rare and beautiful white lily. He believes that if he finds this flower, his fame and fortune will be assured.
But then Joseph meets Namuunaa, a shaman and the chief of her tribe.
And it is Namuunaa who will teach him the true meaning of his desire…
Travel Guide
A journey across Mongolia
Steppes
‘The steppes were covered with orchids that smelled of vanilla, their heavy heads as large as walnuts.’
Mountains
‘They rode over a long ridge, like the spine of some curved sea creature, with a breathtaking view on either side of them – hills, mountains and woods as far as the eye could see – and, in the very distance, at the end of vision where land and sky melded, a shimmering mirage of bone white and deep ochre, the Bad Lands: the edge of the Gobi Desert.’
Gobi Desert
‘He believed he might at last have arrived at Socho-nor, the one great lake in the Black Gobi. It stretched before him finally, its edges ringed with minerals sharp and bright as cut glass. Flocks of migrant waders rose in clouds before settling like butterflies over its vitreous surface. The desert was a green oasis of tamarisk trees, willows, thorny jujube, reeds and grasses. He knelt and prayed in the sucking sand, thanking God for preserving him thus far.’
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Priest and the Lily
Destination: Mongolia Author/guide: Sanjida O’Connell Departure Time: 1865
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