Read more
About the author
Sanjida O'Connell is a TV presenter and producerilms. She is the author of five previous books, two novels, Theory of Mind and Angel Bird, written in her early twenties and three works of non-fiction, Mindreading: How we Learn to Love and Lie, Sugar: The Grass that Changed the World and Nature's Calendar. She also has a PhD in Theory of Mind.
Summary
The Naked Name of Love is an exquisitely written novel of the meeting of east and west, of religious ideals under question in the aftermath of Darwin - and of a love that transcends culture, faith - and ultimately tragedy...
Set in Mongolia, The Naked Name of Love tells the story of Joseph, a young Jesuit priest, who sets out on a quest to discover and bring back rare plants for the British Museum.
His journey takes place against the background of a nineteenth century in the grip of an intellectual revolution as science and evolution begin to sweep aside old certainties.
Travelling across the Eastern Steppes in the company of Mendo, a Buddhist monk and Tsem, a Mongolian horseman, often cold, often hungry and frequently in danger from the roving bands of the sinister White War Lord, Joseph's journey takes him every bit as much inwards to his soul as it does to the heart of this unknown world.
But it is his Namuunaa, the gifted Mongolian shaman woman who saves his life, who will teach him what it is to love - and will change his life for ever.
Additional text
'[O'Connell] has quite an imagination.'
