The Lake Palace, The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Pavilion make up The Oriental Lake Collection - three captivating novels of love, loss and survival set in Asia during the 1930s and 40s. In each book, an iconic and mystical lake plays an important role; a remote mountain lake in British India where Royal princesses once bathed (The Lake Pavilion), a Maharajah's palace on a lake in a Princely state (The Lake Palace), or the ancient and holy lake pagoda in Hanoi, French Indochina (The Lake Pagoda). All the books tell stories of women caught up in tragic events in colonial times and their struggles to survive and stay true to their ideals.
The books are all standalone stories and may be read in any order.
The Lake Pagoda, the latest in the collection, was launched on Amazon for Kindle and in paperback on April 26th 2022. The audiobook version of The Lake Pagoda, beautifully narrated by voice-over artist, Deryn Oliver is also now available too from the above link. ***I have a limited number of promotional links for free downloads of the audiobook, so if you are interested, please do get in touch via the contact page on my website.***
The Lake Pagoda
French Indochina 1945: Arielle, the daughter of a French father and Vietnamese mother, is working for the colonial government in Hanoi. Because of her native blood, she’s spared imprisonment when the Japanese storm the city. Forced to work for the enemy, Arielle is contacted by a Viet Minh agent, who threatens to expose her dark secrets from ten years before if she doesn’t help his cause. As Arielle is drawn deeper into the rebels’ dangerous world, will she ever escape the torment of her past? Or will she find love in the most unexpected of places? A novel of love, loss, and survival against all odds.
In other news... The Lake Pavilion is being translated into French by French publisher, City Editions, and is due to be released in September. The Orphan House has been selected for a Kindle Monthly Deal in both the UK and Australia for the month of August. So until the 31st August, the eBook price of this title has dropped down to £0.99 (UK) and $1.49 (AUD). What's in a name? When I retrieved the rights to my Bamboo Trilogy from Monsoon Books in 2019, I wanted to give the books a new lease of life, so I gave them new titles. Bamboo Heart became "A Daughter's Quest", Bamboo Island "The Planter's Wife" and Bamboo Road "The Homecoming". I re-released them with their new names under my own publishing logo Andaman Press. Since then, I've published three more books about the second world war in SE Asia, A Daughter's Promise, The Tea Planter's Club and The Amulet. Together, all six now make up the Echoes of Empire collection
I've recently been in discussion with Asia Books who have bookshops throughout Thailand. and are interested in stocking my books. At first, they are going to take new editions of The Lake Pagoda, A Daughter's Promise and Bamboo Road (or The Homecoming). Because that book was previously available in Thailand as Bamboo Road, we decided to combine the titles. So, in the next few months, Bamboo Road: The Homecoming and the other two books should be on the shelves in bookstores throughout Thailand. I'm hoping they will soon be followed by all my other books!
What I'm working on.... I'm currently writing my fourth book for publication by Bookouture. This one is set during WWII in Berlin, Paris and London, and will be published in May next year. It doesn't have a title yet, but I'll keep you posted. We recently spent a long weekend in Paris, soaking up the atmosphere, and visiting locations for the book.
I'm also looking ahead to my next Andaman Press release... I'm thinking about another book for the Oriental Lake collection ...but it's early days yet and this may change! For inspiration, I dug out some photos I took on a visit to Tonlé Sap in Northwest Cambodia, the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia...
All my books are available through my Amazon author page at this link or by following the links on my website.