PRESS RELEASE: Daughter's discovery of father's time as a POW at Burma's Death Railway inspires Bamboo series of historical fiction novels

Monday 18th January 2016, Kent, United Kingdom: Literally PR Ltd has beenretained to support the release of Bamboo Island by Ann Bennett, author of Bamboo Heart. Ann's work attracted the attention of Monsoon Books, an international publisher based in Singapore and the UK, specialising in SE Asian inspired fiction. Ann secured a three-book deal and the Bamboo trilogy was born. Each book stands alone, but read together (in any order) build to create a compelling narrative about a brutal and shocking period of wartime history. The series starts with the incredibly strong Bamboo Heart (2014) that hooks you immediately and ends leaving you feeling emotionally exhausted due to the raw depravity experienced by British POWs on Burma's Death Railway. Bamboo Island is the second book, due for publication in March 2016, followed by Bamboo Road.

Published by Monsoon Books on March 28 2016, Ann Bennett will be available for interview, editorial commissions and comment in the run-up to publication. Extracts can be arranged. Advance review copies can be requested (PDF ARCs now and paperbacks within the next two weeks):helenlewis@literallypr.com.

The inspiration behind the Bamboo series...

The seeds for the SE Asia WW2 Trilogy were sown when Ann Bennett discovered her father's ‘liberation questionnaire' in the National Archives at Kew, London. It answered so many questions she wished she could have asked her father. "From the moment I found the questionnaire I knew I had to write about Dad's experiences as a POW on the Death Railway in Thailand. This discovery was the culmination of a lifetime's quest to find out what had happened to my father during the war. He died when I was only seven, and growing up I became increasingly interested in his past. He hardly spoke about the war, having started a new life with my mother on his return to England in 1945."

Ann had been searching for answers for years. She first travelled to Kanchanaburi to see the Death Railway in 1988. On that trip she fell in love with South East Asia, a love affair that has lasted almost three decades, during which time she has returned many times and started to learn the Thai language.

The tragic events her father described in the questionnaire, formed the basis of the first novel - Bamboo Heart, a story about the Thai-Burma railway from the point of view of one man. Ann's aim was to bring those harrowing events alive through a fast-moving and readable story. The history continues to come alive through the stories of fictional characters in Bamboo Island and Bamboo Road.

Ann's research for Bamboo Heart, a story of starvation and massacres, bravery and sacrifice, taught her so much more about the war in the Far East than she could have anticipated. It led to the creation of Bamboo Island, which explores the war in SE Asia from a female perspective, an ex-pat civilian. Juliet is an ordinary woman from London, married to a plantation owner and living on a remote rubber estate in Malaya in the years leading to the war. When the fighting starts she is in Singapore and caught up in the Japanese invasion.

"I want to ensure the tragic events of the Fall of Singapore and the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore are not forgotten but introduced to a new audience. My books show how our lives are shaped by history, and how powerfully our family's past affects our own choices and values."- Ann Bennett, author of Bamboo Island.

About the author

Ann Bennett was born in Pury End, a small village in Northamptonshire, the youngest of six girls. She attended Northampton High School for Girls and read Law at Girton College, Cambridge. She went on to study at the College of Law in London, and qualified and practised as a solicitor. Ann worked in the City and also in Legal Aid firms until her first son was born in 1992. Ann has written passionately all her life and before the publication of Bamboo Heart, had completed numerous short stories and three full-length novels that have never seen the light of day. In 2011 she became a keen contributor to YouWriteOn (a peer review site for writers) and feedback from other writers helped her finish The Pomelo Tree, the book that eventually became Bamboo Heart.

Notes to editors

A press pack containing images, syndicated interview and more information can be requested from Literally PR atinfo@literallypr.com. To arrange an interview, comment or editorial commission with Ann Bennett please emailhelenlewis@literallypr.com.