A BLONDE BENGALI WIFE
BY ANNE
HAMILTON
Travel/Memoir
Release Date: Originally released October 2010.
Reprinted 3 November
2015
They all said that
Bangladesh would be an experience...
For Anne
Hamilton, a three month winter programme of travel and ‘cultural exchange’ in a
country where the English language, fair hair and a rice allergy are all rare
in the extreme was always going to be interesting, challenging and frustrating. What they
didn’t tell Anne was that it would also be sunny, funny and the start of a love
affair with this unexplored area of Southeast Asia.
A Blonde Bengali Wife shows the lives beyond the poverty, monsoons and
diarrhoea of Bangladesh and charts a vibrant and fascinating place where one
minute Anne is levelling a school playing field ‘fit for the national cricket
team,’ cobbling together a sparkly outfit for a formal wedding the next.
Along with
Anne are the essential ingredients for survival: a travel-savvy Australian
sidekick, a heaven-sent adopted family, and a short, dark, and handsome
boy-next-door.
During her
adventures zipping among the dusty clamour of the capital Dhaka, the longest
sea beach in the world at Cox’s Bazaar, verdant Sylhet tea gardens, and the
voluntary health projects of distant villages, Anne amasses a lot of friends,
stories...and even a husband?
A Blonde Bengali Wife is the ‘unexpected travelogue’ that reads like a
comedy of manners to tell the other side of the story of Bangladesh.
BUY LINKS
ABOUT ANNE HAMILTON
Anne Hamilton wrote A Blonde Bengali Wife after she fell in
love with Bangladesh on her first (of many) visits there. The travelogue
inspired the charity, Bhola’s Children, and continues to support it. Before she
became a full time writer, editor and tutor, Anne’s career was in social work
and community health – which led to many of her earlier international
travels. Anne can never quite decide if
she comes from the East of England or the West of Ireland, so she compromises
by living in Scotland, with her small son; they still travel when they can.
Anne has a PhD in Creative writing from the University of Glasgow, and is the
editor of local online magazine, Lothian
Life. She is currently revising and seeking representation for her first
novel, Chasing Elena, and working on
her second.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ablondebengaliwife
Twitter:
@Anne_ABBW &
@AnneHamilton7
http://anne-ablondebengaliwife.blogspot.co.uk/
GIVEAWAY
AN ECOPY OF THE BOOK
My Review
Not having read the blurb for this book, I was expecting a novel. Instead I got a wonderfully humorous account of Anne's visit to Bangladesh. I loved the easy writing style and the characters almost jumped off the page. Even though I have never been to Bangladesh I found myself looking back to when I first lived abroad and agreeing with so many things that Anne faced - the language barrier, cultural differences and the desire to feed any stray foreigner are top of the list.
This memoir also serves as a reminder of what Bangladesh must have been like at the beginning of the twenty-first century - when Anne returns three years later the advent of technology makes it a changed place. Somehow she manages to create a humorous account without being disparaging or condescending. I also learnt a lot about local customs from this book.
4/5
