Review #394: The Road to Rangoon by Lucy Cruickshanks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”

----Nelson Mandela

Lucy Cruickshanks, an English author, has penned yet another enticing and poignant tale, The Road to Rangoon that is set across the beautiful yet sad land of Burma which is centered around three characters whose lives are entwined and engulfed in the clutches of the civil war against the Burmese Military Armed Forces, officially known as Tatmadaw.

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Review #5: Return to Mandalay by Rosanna Ley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The true exotic experience can one gather in his lifetime is from only one land in our world, that is, Myanmar in Burma. Rudyard Kipling has once captured the beauty and exotic-ness of Burma in his famous quote:

"This is Burma and it is unlike any land you know about."

An English author, named, Rosanna Ley, living in West Dorset, have also strikingly captured the beauty and the aura of Burma in her enthralling novel, Return to Mandalay. From the name itself, the book sounds so alluring and with its phantasmagorical cover image, it makes the book more and more beautiful.

Synopsis:
Eva, an English living by the bay of West Dorset, has grown up fantasizing on her grandfather's fascinating tales from his younger days in Mandalay. This Eva is all grown-up now, working as an antique dealer in an emporium. Soon her dream of visiting the exotic lands of Burma comes true and in a fleet second she says "yes" to her business trip to Mandalay. But little did she know that her grandfather beheld a great secret to the mysterious land and an extrinsic treasure belonging to the history of Burma. And thus we step into The Golden Land rich with heritage and natural resources, where Eva embarks upon a journey to relive her grandfather's past with her own eyes and by returning the treasure- a chinthe of a lion with "red glowing" eyes, to its rightful owner. Eva finds solace and her heart's desire in the Land of Gems where she not only dons the hat of a master sleuth but also vows to restore the balance in nature by safe-guarding the history of Burma. But will she succeed in doing what she wanted? And will her heart learn to trust again? Read this novel for sure to taste the exotic-ness not only in your mind but also with your senses.

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Review #2: The Separation by Dinah Jefferies

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Malayan Emergency, the year is 1955, which is when the Malayan guerrilla war was being fought for an Anti-British government in Malaya. The period of Insurgency has occurred just after the Japanese troops left the country followed by Malayan economic disruption. The war is at its full form, and the red-headed Europeans were treated with disrespect.

A woman named Lydia Cartwright who found herself searching for her two young daughters amidst of deadly war and terrorism, murder, lies, and deceit. A wild goose chase for a ray of hope in the Malayan jungles, Lydia's life had never had been so terrorising and so on the edge. A mother's painful journey of searching her daughters among pain and bloodshed and uncovering so many hidden puzzle pieces , mysteries and secrets, in the way letting her guard down for more than one time.

The Separation by Dinah Jefferies is an enriching and soul-touching story that is bound to be etched on to your hearts for a very long time.

Synopsis:
On the opening scene of the book, we see that Emma is playing with her younger sister, Fleur on their Malayan country home and then all of a sudden, their dad, Alec is asking them to pack off all their belongings hastily and all the while, Emma was asking what about their mother, Lydia, will she come with them, how will she know that they have left the house, worrying badly about her. When Lydia returns to the empty house, she meets Maznan, a young half-Chinese boy, who has to be rescued to be taken back into the jungle to his mother. And thus Lydia embarks upon a journey to save another mother's child and of her own daughters. From terrorist attacks to ambush to getting lost in a deep dark jungle which leads to uncertainty, how much pain can a mother take for the sake of her own daughters?

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