So, here comes April with a spring in her step and a few jokes up her sleeve: 23 degrees in Edinburgh one day and zero the next...But it's the name 'April' which has got me thinking.  Last month, someone - Bootsie (not sure I know you personally but thanks for the interest) - commented about my novel-in-progress.  I'm going to take up her challenge and write a mini-mini-synopsis here, on the basis that it might shame me into finally finishing it, submitting it, and hopefully, eventually, maybe, gaining a PhD and publication!Where does April come in?  Well, she's my main character and she's on a quest in Cyprus.  I've carried the travel theme on from Bangladesh, realising how much I enjoy having a real location in a place I love, but that's where the similarity ends: the current work is definitely a novel.  April is ostensibly looking for her childhood friend, Elena, who...

(Yes - really - two posts in one day!  Unheard of.  It will never last...)Got five minutes to fill on your tea break?  Over at the LL-Publications blog, you can pass the time reading an interview with me, and lots of other interesting book-related articles fromm my publishers:http://llpublications.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/interview-anne-hamilton-a-blonde-bengali-wife/

Those of you who have read earlier posts will remember that the cover photographs for A Blonde Bengali Wife were taken by Jacqui Dunbar, friend and photographer (and fabulous on both counts!)  In 2008, Jacqui and  I laughed (mostly at our own incompetence) our way around Bangladesh, meeting up with my old friends and making so many new ones en route.  From St Martin's Island, at the very southern tip of the Bay of Bengal - where a tropical storm meant we were hours away from being uplifted by the Bangladeshi Navy - to remote villages in Sylhet unreachable by road, we travelled.  It's a story in itself, full of extraordinary experiences, but suffice it to say that when Jacqui is famous and invited on Celebrities in the Jungle (or similar), she'll have no problem swallowing the weirdest delicacies...Switch over to Jaqui's blog http://jacquidunbar.wordpress.com/ to get a taste of one of the journeys we...

Once upon a time there were three little Hindu girls called Shahti, Khaleda and Aasia.  They all lived and played happily together in Bhola's Garden.  Each of them was deaf but that didn't matter at all because they learned sign language and were bright and clever and they could dance to the rhythm of a drum.  As they grew older, Shahti, Khaleda and Aasia stayed at school for their lessons and they also all learned to cook and to sew.  The time came when Khaleda went away to technical school and Aasia went home to live with her family but Shahti stayed on in the boundary and helped to look after the other children.  She grew into a beautiful and kind young woman.  One day, Deepok, one of the workers there and also a good Hindu, asked Ali if he could marry Shahti.  It was a good match but Shahti wasn't sure, Deepok was so much older...

One of the continuing challenges of Bhola's Children is how best to educate the minority of blind children we have, and how they are best encouraged to live independently.  It's a great achievement that through working with Rishilpi, a Bangladeshi charity, two of the older blind girls, Rozina and Supia, who have lived in the boundary since they were small children have a really life-changing opportunity.  Dinah Wiener, Chief Trustee writes:Last November we talked with Ali of the possibility of the two blind girls, Rozina and Supia, to go to Rishilpi for a while to learn and train to become physiotherapists. In Rishilpi there is a very good and professional physiotherapist and teacher that is blind. He is extremely good; everyday there are over 40 children that come with mothers to have physiotherapy and learn what to do at home.  It's now happening!  It will be a wonderful opportunity for them to...