Book Title: The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu

Series: Echoes of Empire

Author: Ann Bennett

Publication Date: 31^st October 2023

Publisher: Andaman Press

Page Length: 356

Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Romance / Women’s adventure and romance

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Book Title and Author Name:

The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu

Ann Bennett

Blurb:

A sweeping wartime tale of secrets and love, mystery and redemption, moving from the snow-capped Himalayas to the steamy heat of battle in the Burmese jungle.

Perfect for fans of Dinah Jeffries, Victoria Hislop and Rosie Thomas.

Hampshire, UK, 2015. When Chloe Harper’s beloved grandmother, Lena dies, a stranger hands her Lena’s wartime diary. Chloe sets out to uncover deep family secrets that Lena guarded to her grave.

Darjeeling, India, 1943, Lena Chatterjee leaves the confines of a strict boarding school to work as assistant to Lieutenant George Harper, an officer in the British Indian Army. She accompanies him to Nepal and deep into the Himalayas to recruit Gurkhas for the failing Burma Campaign. There, she discovers that Lieutenant Harper has a secret, which she vows never to reveal.

In Kathmandu, the prophesy of a mysterious fortune teller sets Lena on a dangerous course. She joins the Women’s Auxiliary Service Burma (the Wasbies), risking her life to follow the man she loves to the front line. What happens there changes the course of her life.

On her quest to uncover her grandmother’s hidden past, Chloe herself encounters mystery and romance. Helped by young Nepalese tour guide, Kiran Rai, she finds history repeating itself when she is swept up in events that spiral out of control…

“A great read” Advance Reader.

” Thank you so much for allowing me to read the advance copy. I could barely put it down!” Advance Reader,

“What a wonderful book… I loved it. The dual time lines were delineated to perfection… the settings were perfectly rendered..” Advance Reader.

The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu – Writing a dual-timeline novel

Most of my books have a dual timeline and I continued this approach with The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu (published on October 31^st 2023). My books are nearly all about the Second World War in South-East Asia, inspired by the research I did into my father’s wartime experience as a prisoner of war of the Japanese on the Thai-Burma railway. For some of my books, for example Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife and Bamboo Road: The Homecoming, my central character revisits a time or place from her past and resolves mysteries or unfinished issues from long ago. In others, a character in the present day, or at least in modern times, is inspired by an event or a revelation to look into the past of a family member, making surprising discoveries along the way.

The reason I write my stories that way is because that is how I started out with Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, my first novel, which was vaguely autobiographical. My central character, Laura, a twenty-something lawyer, makes a discovery about her father’s wartime past which leads her to travel to South-East Asia to the place where he had been incarcerated and enslaved during the war to find out more. I think that the quest for knowledge about family history is a powerful impetus for a character’s journey and really resonates with readers. That connection between past and present seems somehow more meaningful than a straightforward story about the past (although done well, such stories can be just as memorable).

In the Fortune Teller of Kathmandu, I weave two stories from past and present. Firstly, the 1940s story of Lena, a young Eurasian woman living in Darjeeling in British India, who accompanies her employer, British army lieutenant George Harper, into Nepal to recruit young soldiers into the Gurkhas to bolster the allied campaign on the Burma front. In the modern-day strand, her granddaughter Chloe reads Lena’s wartime diary, embarks on a journey of her own to India and Nepal, and discovers the secrets Lena guarded for a lifetime – and finds romance and adventure along the way.

The challenge was, as ever, ensuring the modern-day story is as interesting and compelling as the historical strand. Chloe is at a turning point in her life, having just come out of a long-term relationship, grieving for her grandmother and looking for answers to questions never addressed during Lena’s life. Chloe lives in a place I know well, the border between Surrey and Hampshire in the UK, countryside I walk in every day, so it wasn’t difficult to conjure up the settings for Chloe’s story. Chloe has never travelled before, so to embark alone on a journey to India and Nepal is a brave act. For Chloe’s travels, I drew on my old diaries and memories of my own backpacking days in 1987 when I made similar journeys (in particular, the trek to Ghorepani and Poon Hill in the Annapurna range) with a schoolfriend. I also included some momentous events from Nepal’s modern-day history in Chloe’s strand, which reflected some of the things Lena experienced in 1940s India, to link the two timelines more closely.

For Lena’s story, I drew upon my own impressions of Darjeeling, Nepal and Burma through my own visits. Also, the extensive historical research I’ve done over the years on the Second World War in SE Asia, as well as more recent research about particular aspects of the Burma campaign. In particular the fascinating and little known story of the Wasbies – the Women’s Royal Auxiliary Service, Burma – unsung but courageous women who risked their lives to support soldiers on the front line.  

Buy Links:

This title is available to read with #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/tftok

Author Bio:

Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. She was born in Pury End, a small village in Northamptonshire, UK and now lives in Surrey. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, was inspired by researching her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway. Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise and Bamboo Road:The Homecoming, The Tea Panter’s Club and The Amulet are also about the war in South East Asia, which together with The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.

Ann is also author of The Runaway Sisters, bestselling The Orphan House, The Forgotten Children and The Child Without a Home, published by Bookouture.

The Lake Pavilion, The Lake Palace, both set in British India in the 1930s and WW2, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, set in French Indochina during WW2, make up The Oriental Lake Collection.

Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and works as a lawyer. For more details please visit www.annbennettauthor.com.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.annbennettauthor.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/annbennett71

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annbennettauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annbennettauthor/

Amazon Author Page UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00D21SJ7A

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1951323.Ann_Bennett