Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Meet Jana Bibi, a Scottish woman helping to save the small town in India she has grown to call home and the oddball characters she considers family
Janet Laird's life changed the day she inherited her grandfather's house in a faraway Indian hill station. Ignoring her son's arguments to come grow old in their family castle in Scotland, she moves with her chatty parrot, Mr. Ganguly and her loyal housekeeper, Mary, to Hamara Nagar, where local merchants are philosophers, the chief of police is a tyrant, and a bagpipe-playing Gurkha keeps the wild monkeys at bay. Settling in, Jana Bibi (as she comes to be known) meets her colorful local neighbors—Feroze Ali Khan of Royal Tailors, who struggles with his business and family, V.K. Ramachandran, whose Treasure Emporium is bursting at the seams with objects of unknown provenance, and Rambir, editor of the local newspaper, who burns the midnight oil at his printing press. When word gets out that the town is in danger of being drowned by a government dam, Jana is enlisted to help put it on the map. Hoping to attract tourists with promises of good things to come, she stacks her deck of cards, readies her fine-feathered assistant—and Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes is born.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Woodman's debut novel (the first in a series) follows a quaint patchwork of characters living in smalltown India, with Jana Bibi at its center. Jana is of Scottish heritage, but was born in India, where she works as a violin tutor. When she learns that she has inherited a house in Hamara Nagar, she promptly moves to the tiny village and settles in just in time to hear that Hamara Nagar is scheduled to be drowned by a dam. She joins forces with other townsfolk a cast demonstrating India's unique cultural makeup, from the observant Muslim tailor Feroze and his wife, Zohra, to the enterprising owner of Ramachandran's Treasure Emporium to rescue the town. The plan is to make Hamara Nagar a tourist destination, and Jana is chosen to act as the resident soothsayer to draw visitors. Her attempts at fortune telling and parts of the story are saved by her wily parrot Mr. Ganguly, whose amusing vocabulary keeps the dialogue entertaining. Woodman has an ear for spoken language and firsthand experience living in India, but her plot line falls flat.
Customer Reviews
So cute
Can't wait for the next book in the series