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The Tea Planter's Club (Echoes of Empire: A collection of standalone novels set in the Far East during WWII) Kindle Edition
Ann Bennett (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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From award-winning author Ann Bennett, comes a heart-breaking story of love and loss set in World War 2 Burma.
In 1980, Edith Mayhew, proprietor of the Tea Planter’s Club in Calcutta, is preparing to sell up after years of decline. She thinks back to 1942 when her sister Betty vanished having fled over the mountains from Burma to Assam to escape the Japanese invasion. Whilst packing, Edith comes across some letters which may hold clues to Betty’s mysterious disappearance.
The discovery propels Edith on an epic journey to Assam, where she is forced to face devastating secrets of love and betrayal from the war years.
Praise for Ann Bennett
'A vivid account of a brutal period, and a searing exploration of trauma, memory and loss..' The Lady Magazine.
‘Have just discovered this writer … So descriptive of the Far East. Harrowing in parts but unputdownable! Best author I have read in a very long time.’ Amazon Reviewer.
‘This was a story of love, passion and cruelty I could not put down ….’ Lizeanne Lloyd - Lost in a Good Book
I raced through this book in just over twenty-four hours … I literally could not put it down.’ Bibliobeth – Goodreads.
‘I really loved this haunting, powerful and beautiful novel.’ Amazon Reviewer
.- LanguageEnglish
- Publication date15 July 2020
- File size1477 KB
Product details
- ASIN : B089RQ6NK7
- Language : English
- File size : 1477 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 348 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : B08C98YY7T
- Best Sellers Rank: 10,903 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Ann Bennett was born in Pury End, a small village in Northamptonshire, UK and now lives in Surrey. Her first book, A Daughter's Quest, originally published as Bamboo Heart, was inspired by her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway. The Planter's Wife (originally Bamboo Island) a Daughter's Promise and The Homecoming, (formerly Bamboo Road), The Tea Panter's Club and The Amulet are also about the war in South East Asia, all six making up the Echoes of Empire Collection.
Ann is also author of The Runaway Sisters and The Orphan House, published by Bookouture. The idea for that book came from researching her great-grandfather, Brice Bennett, who was headmaster of a county school for pauper children in Wargrave, Berkshire.
The Lake Pavilion, set in British India in the 1930s and wartime England, will be published in April 2021.
Ann is married with three grown up sons and works as a lawyer. For more details please visit www.bambooheart.co.uk
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Really would recommend it to everyone, not only was it an incredible wartime story, but full of history, hardships & love during the war, especially covering the invasion of Burma by the Japanese.
Top reviews from other countries

remain with me daily. So very well described and the knowledge that the author has Is amazing. She certainly knows her subject and must have gained a lot of information from talking with people.
I am far too old now but would so love to have visited the places she described . I have enjoyed the suspense , not knowing how it will end which makes me read well onto the night!
Thank you Anne for the pleasure that your books have given me.
Thank you Anne for the extreme pleasure that all of your books have given me

I highly recommend it, a marvellous work of well researched historical fiction. I look forward to The Runaway Sisters later this year. Thanks Ms. Bennett for a wonderful read, Keep them coming !!!!


The novel draws the tiresome long journey of a woman with her motherly love and affection through dense forests and the deep jungles, slippery uneven paths with no food and shelter surrounded by predatory animals, struggle with her daily life for survival are all testament to Betty's indomitable courage and strength and resilience. More praiseworthy is her habit of writing daily diary with nitty gritty details ( Betty's journal) that neatly depicts Betty's ordeal. Ultimately it serves as a proof of her identity as the birth mother of Alexander who got back his lost lineage through Edith. Edith is a noble upstanding character who leaves no stone unturned to track down her Sister's existence and the her ultimate end. Betty's journal reminds me of Anne Frank's Diary that acts as an excellent tool to dig out the truth though Betty's spidery writings of her tiring fingers in some of the concluding pages.
The novel also hints at a basic trait of human character and that is real love is not contingent upon money , wealth, extravagance and living in a luxurious mansion or driving plush car. Rather love is a hidden treasure that lies dormant in the bottom of human heart That works wonders when the two minds meet. Love and likes are two separate entity.
But there ate other sides of love apart from sexual love that the novel dictates. It throws light on noble wide heart of Betty's ayah Daw Ma, her unalloyed affection in nurturing and protecting Betty's child sacrificing her own life against the harrowing backdrop of Japanese invasion of Burmese land.
That Tea Planter's club acts as a memorabilia to this whole episode. Edith wins in the end in her untiring effort to discover the tragedy of her Sister's life and her ultimate end. On doing so she could brush off her sense of guilt which he held in her secret mind in loving Robert. But the novel did her a strong justice that Edith got the loving touch of Robert's hand at the extreme advanced stage of their lives . The scenery is highly emotional as the novel was drawing to its close.
I am overwhelmed , enraptured and charmed with this novel, its neatly flowing expressive chapters rhat absorbs the reader's mind with passion, emotion making it unputdownable. I am spell bound to see the way the author proved her expertise in crafting the story that easily captures the heart of the readers. I strongly recommend this novel to the voracious readers so that they do not miss out this grand collection .
