The Flying Fox (1956) by Mary McMinnies

A couple of years ago, I read The Visitors, Mary McMinnies’ extremely good, extremely long novel about British government officials and their wives working and living in a thinly disguised Krakow. It was unlike anything I’d read before, particularly in its gradual, detailed approach to the story. I’ve never read a book in which characters were explored so thoroughly or so effectively. I knew McMinnies had only written one other novel, The Flying Fox (1956), and it was not easy to track down. (Incidentally, I knew about a thesis chapter that Anne Wetherilt had mentioned in a comment.) So I was thrilled when I came across a copy last year in World’s End Books in Chelsea – but would lightning strike twice? I have to assume that Mary McMinnies was married to a British government officer who was stationed in various places, because The Flying Fox takes place in what-was-then-called-Malaya, in the fictional town of Telebu in the fictional state of Mandore. As with The Visitors, the main…