A woman has written a book inspired by her grandparents' lives as missionaries in Burma.

Lucy Rushton’s debut novel Callings explores love, loss and what it is to live a good life.

Set in the 1920s and ‘30s - the narrative follows Ada - a young woman who leaves her narrow life in a Norfolk town for the jungles of Burma and a mission she hopes is her calling.

Eastern Daily Press: Lucy Rushton's grandmother Betty at a service in BurmaLucy Rushton's grandmother Betty at a service in Burma (Image: Lucy Rushton)There she ends up questioning her purpose and discovering that there are other ways of making sense of life – and death.

As a child Ms Rushton, now 67, visited her grandparents Ted and Betty Rushton in their Cambridge vicarage every year, where she would hear tales of their lives in the 1920s wilds of northern Burma, modern day Myanmar.

Eastern Daily Press: Betty Rushton on the ship to RangoonBetty Rushton on the ship to Rangoon (Image: Lucy Rushton)

Ms Rushton, a retired adult education tutor from King's Lynn, said: “I grew up hearing stories of my grandparents’ lives as missionaries in remote northern Burma, as it was then. I was fascinated by the adventure of it all and by the very different way of life of the people they were working with.  
Eastern Daily Press: Lucy Rushton has written a book inspired by her grandparents' lives as missionaries in BurmaLucy Rushton has written a book inspired by her grandparents' lives as missionaries in Burma (Image: Lucy Rushton) “But then I became an anthropologist with a serious interest in the ways different cultures make sense of the world.

"So I was left with questions to think about, trying to imagine what it all meant to that group of young people, taking those risks and striving so hard to pass on their way of thinking to people whose experience was so very different from theirs."

While the story is fictional, Ms Rushton was inspired by the first-hand stories of her father and grandparents, and used her academic background to research what life was like for missionaries.

Eastern Daily Press: The cover of Lucy Rushton's novel CallingsThe cover of Lucy Rushton's novel Callings (Image: Lucy Rushton)Callings by Lucy Rushton is available now for £9.99 from online book retailers and local bookshops.

The book will be launched at an event at the Groundworks Art Gallery in King’s Lynn on Tuesday, 24 October (6pm).