Bathing Elephants

A collection of six short stories:

Bathing Elephants – Suchin Srisai breaks away from her traditional moneyed family in Bangkok and sets up her own orchid business in Chiang Mai. On one of her frequent holiday trips to Phuket she meets Michael. Then the tsunami hits.

Inshallah – Will the future of Iraq be fear and widows? Jamilah is orphaned after a terrorist attack and is taken in by an old stall-keeper. The story follows the adventures of one day in Jamilah’s life and the love she brings to the old man.

Sequined Slippers – An orphaned sister and brother, 16 and 14, end up living alone. When the sister is working as a waitress and looking after her brother who is still in school, it works well. But he leaves and mysteriously turns up in a rich woman’s home.

I Was Killed in a Car Accident – Betrothed at birth, artist Xiao’li runs away from her home in Beijing when her marriage day approaches. She meets a man who makes her happy but is broken-hearted when she learns the fate of the man she was supposed to marry.

Stone Breaker – Rai trains to be a Nepalese Ghurka but ends up in the hot swamps of the Terrai. He becomes a wealthy landowner and his arranged marriage is a success … until the Bhutanese authorities make him a refugee.

Wild Orchid – Love at first sight threatens to tear a family apart – but the two marry and are gradually accepted. Then the young husband’s discontent with life in Myanmar and his struggle for a better future for his family sets a new course for everyone.