Heartbreaking
Mandarin Road by Ann Bennett is a powerful dual timeline novel that I read in just one sitting. I could not put it down. It is a heartbreaking read.
The action is set in 1967 and 2015 mainly in Vietnam, but briefly in America too as this is where the novel opens.
We see the futility of war. The Vietnam war was particularly hated in America – it wasn’t their war. There were many protests held. It was a cruel war with atrocities on both sides. The Viet Cong were cruel to their own people. The Americans were cruel too, burning villages and shooting the Vietnamese people. It was a war that no one could win. Mothers lost sons on both sides. “He was aggressive, difficult and demanding, but he was still very young to be fighting a war, and he was somebody’s son,” it was said of a Viet Cong soldier. And of an injured American, we hear; “he was not just an enemy soldier; he was a living, breathing human being who was in trouble.”
We witness the bravery of a young girl to help an injured American. Her heart is full of compassion.
A deathbed scene in 2015 sends a daughter overseas in search of a half sister that she never knew she had.
Babies with American fathers in the sixties and seventies Vietnam were often shunned, along with their mothers. Many ended up in orphanages through no fault of their own. But “a baby is a wonderful gift.” They never asked to be born.
This is a beautiful love story that is full of near misses. The reader’s heart breaks for what could have been.
I absolutely loved Mandarin Road. It is very beautiful and very heartbreaking.
I received a free copy via Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
Mandarin Road
A gripping, emotional saga of family secrets and the power of love, set during the Vietnam War…
North Carolina, 2015: Nicole has always idolised her successful father, Ed. But on his deathbed, he reveals a devastating secret he’d guarded for a lifetime. He served in the Vietnam War, fell in love, and fathered a child there. A child he never had the courage to acknowledge.
Huế, South Vietnam, 1968: While her village is rocked by the explosions of the Tet offensive, seventeen-year-old Mai finds a wounded American hiding in her family’s chicken shed. Mai faces an agonising choice. Will she report the soldier to the Viet Cong, who have a stranglehold on the village, or will she risk her life and that of her family to help him?
In 2015, Nicole embarks on a journey into the unknown, travelling to Vietnam on a quest to uncover her father’s long-buried truths. Helped by Greig, an ageing Vietnam vet and his journalist son, Long, she delves into the shocking world her father wanted to forget, plumbing depths of resilience and courage she never knew she possessed.
Will Nicole find her long-lost sister, or will the Vietnam War guard its shameful secrets for ever?
If you are a fan of page-turning, emotional historical fiction like The Women, The Home Front and The Mountains Sing, you will love Mandarin Road.
Mandarin Road is a dual-timeline, standalone book by bestselling historical fiction author, Ann Bennett. Discover this moving, compelling read today.
Purchase Link
https://mybook.to/mandarinroad
Mandarin Road will be at the bargain price of 99p/c on 8th July for one day only!
Author Bio –
Ann Bennett writes historical fiction mainly set during the Second World War. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, was inspired by researching her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and by her own journey to uncover his story. It won the Asian Books Blog prize for fiction published in Asia in 2015 and was shortlisted for the best fiction title in the Singapore Book Awards 2016.
That initial inspiration led her to write more books about WWII in Southeast Asia – Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise, Bamboo Road: The Homecoming, The Tea Planter’s Club, The Amulet and The Lotus House, make up the Echoes of Empire Collection. These were followed by two books set in Nepal, The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu and The Bookseller of Kathmandu (published September 2025) make up the Tales of Kathmandu. A further book in this series is planned for early 2027.
Ann is also the author of The Oriental Lake Collection – The Lake Pavilion and The Lake Palace, both set in British India during the 1930s and WWII, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, set in French Indochina.
The Runaway Sisters, USA Today bestselling The Orphan House, The Child Without a Home and The Forgotten Children are set in Europe during the same era. Those books are published by Bookouture along with The Orphan List and The Stolen Sisters, a two-book series focusing on the Lebensborn programme in Nazi Germany. Her latest book, Once We Were Sisters, a standalone story set in France during WW2 was published by Bookouture in January 2026.
Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and lives in Surrey, UK. For more details, please visit her website www.annbennettauthor.com
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/annbennettauthor
https://www.instagram.com/annbennettauthor
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Giveaway to Win a paperback copy of The Bookseller of Kathmandu by Ann Bennett (Open to UK & Europe Only)
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