This book promotion is through Rachel’s Random Resources.
The Bookseller of Kathmandu blog blitz is a full-day event with exclusive content for Sarandipity’s followers and a giveaway. Read, enter to win, share, comment, follow.
Book Details
A sweeping tale of secrets and survival set against the mystical backdrop of Nepal, and the tropical heat of 1940s Malaya.
In the heart of bustling Kathmandu, Chloe Rai’s quaint bookshop is a sanctuary for those seeking solace within the pages of timeworn stories. But when she discovers a collection of letters hidden within the crumbling walls of a forgotten Rana palace, her world begins to intertwine with a narrative from a different time and place.
Penned in the 1940s by a woman named Alice Lacey, the letters tell the story of the Malayan Emergency, a time of turmoil and conflict. As Alice’s life becomes intertwined with that of Anil, a Gurkha officer, their bond is tested by the chaos and violence surrounding them. Chloe’s discoveries not only reveal family secrets, but also mirror her own struggles in the present. As she delves deeper into Alice’s story, she begins to understand the power of the past in shaping the present.
With a rich cultural backdrop and a poignant exploration of friendship, resilience, and truth, ‘The Bookseller of Kathmandu’ is a beautifully woven tale that showcases the enduring power of storytelling. Join Chloe on a journey through time as she uncovers the truth and learns to navigate the complexities of her own life.
If you enjoy captivating storytelling, then you won’t want to miss ‘The Bookseller of Kathmandu.’ And if you loved ‘The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu,’ then you will be enthralled by Chloe and Alice’s intertwined stories…
Extract
The Bookseller of Kathmandu
In this extract from Chapter 1, Chloe thinks back to how she discovered Paradise Books and how she eventually came to buy it.
Chapter 1
Kathmandu, 2018
Chloe had first discovered the shop by accident. She’d been looking for books about the Gurkhas and their part in the Burma campaign during the Second World War, when she was researching her grandparents’ wartime experiences. She’d scoured every other bookshop in Kathmandu with little success, but serendipity had led her to wander through Thamel late one evening when bats were gathering on the telephone wires for their nightly flit around the district, the light in the sky was fading fast, and the smell of incense and woodsmoke permeated the air. She’d stopped concentrating on her surroundings for a few minutes and, before long, was lost. But she didn’t panic. It had happened before and she knew if she just kept walking she would probably stumble upon somewhere familiar before too long.
She’d happened to turn into a narrow alleyway, which looked to be in the vague direction she was headed, when there it was in front of her: Paradise Books, its brightly-coloured sign lit up in flickering, white fairy lights.
The owner, a bent old Nepalese man called Rohan Dev, stood in the doorway, and when Chloe wandered towards the shop, intrigued, he’d given her a cheery wave and welcomed her warmly.
‘Come in, come in, my dear,’ he’d said, his face wreathed in smiles. ‘I was just about to close, but as the gods are still sending me customers I’ve changed my mind. How can I help you?’
She’d stepped over the threshold and looked about her, overawed.
There were shelves lining the walls from floor to ceiling in every direction, containing books of every shape, size and colour, and written in every language under the sun. They stretched from the front of the shop to the back, completely filling three tall rooms.
Chloe had told the old man what she was looking for and he directed her to a room on the second floor. Books were piled up on every step of the carved, wooden staircase, and on the first floor were three identical rooms, groaning with yet more volumes. Above that, at the very top of another winding staircase, were another three rooms, just as full, these with sloping ceilings and casement windows glazed with diamond panes.
There, in the very top of the building, Chloe discovered a whole column of shelves labelled: WWII IN SOUTHEAST ASIA; THE FALL OF SINGAPORE, THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF THE REGION, AND THE BURMA CAMPAIGN.
‘This is just what I was looking for! I can’t thank you enough!’ she’d said, turning to the old man, beaming.
He had been wheezing a little from the climb, but he beamed back. ‘I’ll leave you to it,’ he replied, ‘while I feed the cats.
Please… take your time.’
That was two years ago. After that first visit, Chloe had returned to the shop every day for several days running. Towards the end of the week, the old man, who asked her to call him ‘baje’, or grandfather, had casually mentioned that he was looking for an assistant, and Chloe had been only too happy to apply for the job. At that time she’d been working for a charity for the victims of the 2015 earthquake, but almost all had been rehoused by then, and the pay was desperately poor. With her husband, Kiran, an earthquake victim himself, unable to work for several months, she’d needed something that paid a little better, and Paradise Books had suited her down to the ground. She loved meeting people, especially fellow bookworms and travellers; she loved being able to browse the bookshelves when the shop wasn’t busy; and she quickly fell in love with Rex and Queenie, who – because it was her job to feed them – would follow her around, rubbing their backs against her legs and purring.
When Rohan had wanted to retire a year later, Chloe used some of the money she’d saved from selling her grandmother’s house in England to buy the business from him. He’d been delighted to pass on his beloved bookshop to Chloe and became a regular customer himself. He could often be found relaxing in the corner of one of the rooms in a wing-backed armchair under a potted palm, flicking through a volume in Sanskrit, cradling one of the cats on his lap.
Purchase Link
https://mybook.to/booksellerkathmandu
Author Bio
Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. 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 and by her own journey to uncover his story. It won the Asian Books Blog prize for fiction published in Asia in 2015, and was shortlisted for the best fiction title in the Singapore Book Awards 2016.
That initial inspiration led her to write more books about WWII in Southeast Asia – Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise, Bamboo Road: The Homecoming, The Tea Planter’s Club, The Amulet, and The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu. Along with The Lotus House, published in October 2024, they make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.
Ann is also the author of The Oriental Lake Collection – The Lake Pavilion and The Lake Palace, both set in British India during the 1930s and WWII, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, set in French Indochina.
The Runaway Sisters, USA Today bestselling The Orphan House, The Child Without a Home and The Forgotten Children are set in Europe during the same era and are published by Bookouture. Her latest book, The Stolen Sisters, published on 29th November 2024 is the follow-up to The Orphan List (published by Bookouture in August this year) and is set in Poland and Germany during WWII.
A former lawyer, Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and lives in Surrey, UK. For more details, please visit her website www.annbennettauthor
Social Media Links
https://www.facebook.com/annbennettauthor
https://twitter.com/annbennett71
https://www.instagram.com/annbennettauthor
Giveaway
Giveaway to Win a Paperback copy of Fortune Teller of Kathmandu (Open to UK and Europe only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK and Europe entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Win a Paperback copy of Fortune Teller of Kathmandu (Open to UK and Europe only)
