The Lake Palace by Ann Bennett

The Lake Palace Reviews

• 
  Karen G Clesen

  I LOVE Ann Bennett but...
  
  ...this book was way too short. An interesting story as well as sad, but predictable. Ann, you can do much better than this!
  
• 
  Shreedevi Gurumurty

  India,1944: Iris Walker, daughter of the British Political Agent in the princely state of Ranipur, is a volunteer nurse, caring for soldiers wounded fighting the Japanese on the border with Burma. One evening the maharajah invites Iris and her parents to a dinner at the Lake Palace, where she meets the enigmatic Edward Stark, a friend of the prince.Edward is dashing, kind and considerate,and the attraction is instantly mutual.
  But Edward is en route to a special mission in the Naga Hills, meaning they have only days together before Iris is once again left alone. To distract herself from longing for Edward, Iris volunteers to work in a mobile hospital unit travelling behind the front line of the 14th Army where she sees the horrors of war first hand and realises how precious and precarious life can be.
  In 1985, Iris, newly widowed, returns to India on holiday. A visit to the now neglected Lake Palace, brings back bitter memories from the 1940s that Iris cannot now let rest. She embarks on a journey into the Naga Hills to uncover long-buried truths from the war years.
  Naga are several indigenous communities in North-East India and Upper Burma.
  V Force was a reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and guerrilla organisation established by the British against Japanese forces during the Burma Campaign in WWII.V Force was envisaged as a "stay behind force".The force was organised into six area commands, corresponding to the Indian Civil Service administrative areas, which in turn corresponded to the ethnicity of the inhabitants of the various parts of the frontier. The area commanders and other officers were rarely Regular Army officers; the qualification for appointment was more often expert knowledge of the local language and peoples.Comilla is a city in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh.Comilla Cantonment is an important military base and the oldest in East Bengal. It was widely used by the British Indian Army during WWII. The Battle of Imphal took place in March-July 1944.Kohima,Nagaland was one of WWII's bloodiest battles.Kohima and Imphal were the turning points in the Burma Campaign.
• 
  Elizabeth Fellows

  The Lake Palace
  
  Uttar Pradesh India 1985 / 1944
  A historical novel that is interesting and intriguing. It takes place primarily in India, at the end of British Rule. Many British subjects who were born in India and felt at home there, whose families lived there and worked there, observed the lifestyle changes when India achieved independence .
  Such is the story of Iris Walker who was born in India and loved it.
  Turmoil holds a lot of fear and mysterious and frightening things happen. From the memories of the superb parties at the clubhouse and in The Lake Palace with the Maharajah and His Family, to the exit of the royal family the changes were life changing and dramatic. From the clubhouse life of the British families in India to the nursing in the brutal war and attacks of the fighting in the mountains, was a dramatic lifestyle change. The Battle of Imphal was the beginning of the troubles with Japan against India. Crown rule or the British Raj lasted 89 years in India.
  Iris found something curious about the past when she was in her 20’s that would not let her rest. From unanswered letters of special friends and to their innocence of youth. This book is a marvellous read, with great knowledge from 1944 and 1985 in India. I definitely would recommend this book.
  
• 
  Charlene

  In Ranipur, India in 1944, Iris Walker, daughter of the British Political Agent, works as nurse, caring for soldiers wounded fighting the Japanese on the border with Burma. At a gala at the maharajah's Lake Palace, she meets Edward Stark, and they find themselves falling in love in the days leading up to him leaving on a special mission in the Naga Hills. After Edward leaves, Iris volunteers at a mobile hospital unit behind the front lines, where she sees the horrors of war first-hand. Soon, Iris and her family leave India just before the Independence, and she never hears from Edward again. Forty years later, newly widowed Iris takes a trip back to India, where all her favorite memories lie, to see if she can find out what happened to Edward. This is the fourth book I've read by this author, and I really appreciate learning about the history of India through British Raj and into its Independence.
• 
  Eileen Vernor

  incredible story!
  
  I have loved every Ann Bennett book I’ve read, including “The Lake Palace”! She is gifted in weaving together the present with the past, keeping the reader intrigued and guessing until the end. I love her descriptions of India during the 1930s and 1940s, I feel as if I’ve really traveled there through her words. I’ve always been fascinated with India and her stories make me want to travel there. Look forward to Ann Bennett’s next book!
• 
  Deborah Necessary

  I enjoyed this book about Iris, a older widow, who travels to India to rediscover the places she enjoyed as a privileged child. One of her special places to visit was the maharaja’s opulent place on the lake. It was here that she met her first love and on this trip to India she wants to find out what happened to him and why he disappeared from her life.
• 
  Susan

  An easy read. Set in colonial India and the modern day.
  
  I'm not sure how historically accurate it is but it makes a great setting and I did like the characters as they represented different types of colonial Raj women.
  
  This is my perfect holiday read. It doesn't require a lot of deep thinking and the story keeps me wanting to read on.
• 
  Sadie

  The history element of this quick historical fiction book was particularly good. I love learning historical anecdotes I otherwise would never com across buried in interesting stories.
  
  This is a really short book and I felt like it could have been longer, but overall Ann Bennett’s “oriental palace” series I believe they’re called have been very solid.
• 
  A.J. Fotheringham

  Wonderful
  
  I couldn’t stop reading this book. The story had me hooked from the beginning. I needed to know what happened. Very evocative of the times and historical moments. Recommended read.
• 
  Barb Halliday

  Originally very excited to read this book. I’ve never read a novel by this author yet. I found it underwhelming. It read a bit like a draft of a story and I was left thinking it could have been much more developed.
• 
  June Richland

  Well written, well researched, fabulous book. Links in gently with previous book but if not read that doesn't matter at all. Highly recommended.
• 
  Pam

  A fascinating novel about India and the British rule full of real history one womens fight for survival an intense read of relationships and friendship.
• 
  Stephanie

  Loved it, very easily devoured and really connected with the characters too.
• 
  Elizabeth Lloyd

  Two widows, Iris and Elspeth, have decided to revisit India where they lived forty years earlier. They were not friends then but perhaps now they will have more in common. For while Elspeth had spent the 1940s going to the club and socialising with her mother, looking out for an occasional eligible bachelor, Iris was a volunteer nurse who liked to spend her spare time cycling in the countryside.
  
  Soon Iris has time to herself and so she decides to investigate what had happened to the love of her life, a young man called Edward whom she met at the maharajah’s palace. There had seemed no doubt that he also loved her, when he had to travel into the hills on a mission, but after one letter, she never heard from him again.
  
  We go back in time to share Iris’s experiences working with the medical unit behind enemy lines near the Burmese border. The sorrow and suffering make her appreciate the kindness and devotion to duty of Nigel, one of the doctors, but soon they are both engulfed in the violence of war.
  In 1985 Iris rekindles her friendship with Sharmila, remembering how she helped to heal wounds between her and her husband Deepak. This interlude connects to the story Ann Bennett’s book The Lake Pavilion, but the events are clearly explained for those who haven’t read that book.
  
  As I have come to expect from Ann Bennett this story is well researched, taking us back to the contrasts of wartime India and the dying days of the empire. Iris is a likeable character who has so far made the best of life despite sadness and the story’s threads are connected in a final satisfying conclusion.
  
• 
  ANNE BARNES

  Loved this