Return to Mandalay by Ley, Rosanna (2014) Paperback

by Rosanna Ley

Eva Gatsby has often wondered about her grandfather Lawrence's past, and exactly what happened to him in Burma during the Second World War. But it is only when Eva's job as an antiques dealer suddenly requires a trip to Mandalay that Lawrence finally breaks his silence and asks her to return a mysterious artefact of his own - a chinthe - to its rightful owner.

As Eva arrives in Burma her mission soon proves dangerously complicated, and the treasure she is guarding becomes the centre of a scandal that will have far-reaching consequences. Caught between loyalty and integrity, Eva is determined to find the truth about her grandfather's past, of her own family origins, and of the red-eyed chinthe itself - enigmatic symbol of the riches of Mandalay.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Ebooks, Asia

Paperback

First published May 22, 2014

About the author

Rosanna Ley has worked as a creative writing tutor for over 15 years. Affiliated to several colleges and universities in England, she also runs her own writing courses in the UK and abroad. She has worked with community groups in therapeutic settings and completed an MA in creative writing for personal development in order to support this. Her writing holidays and retreats take place in stunning locations in Italy and Spain and whilst not teaching or writing she mentors and appraises the work of new writers. Rosanna has had numerous articles and short stories published in UK magazines, and 12 novels of contemporary fiction published in the U.K, Germany, Greece and the U.S.A under a pseudonym. Her books are inspired by the culture and landscapes of Italy, Sicily and the Canary Islands and feature strong female voices from the past and present, along with an intense undercurrent of mystery and romance. Rosanna spends some time every year travelling around Europe looking for writing inspiration and more tranquil settings for writing holidays. She loves cliff walking and her favourite writing place is somewhere with a sea view. When she is not travelling, Rosanna lives with her artist husband in a Victorian cottage in West Dorset by the sea.
(From the author's website)

Reviews

[Aditi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true exotic experience can one gather in his lifetime is from only one land in our world, that is, Myanmar in Burma. Rudyard Kipling has once captured the beauty and exoticness of Burma in his famous quote:

"This is Burma and it is unlike any land you know about."

An English author, named, Rosanna Ley, living in West Dorset, have also strikingly captured the beauty and the aura of Burma in her enthralling novel, Return to Mandalay. From the name itself, the book sounds so alluring and with its phantasmagorical cover image, it makes the book more and more beautiful.

Thanks to the author, Rosanna Ley, and her publisher at Quercus, for sending me over a copy of her book, in return for an honest review.

Eva, an English living by the bay of West Dorset, has grown up fantasizing on her grandfather's fascinating tales from his younger days in Mandalay. This Eva is all grown-up now, working as an antique dealer in an emporium. Soon her dream of visiting the exotic lands of Burma comes true and in a fleet second she says "yes" to her business trip to Mandalay. But little did she know that her grandfather beheld a great secret to the mysterious land and an extrinsic treasure belonging to the history of Burma. And thus we step into The Golden Land rich with heritage and natural resources, where Eva embarks upon a journey to relive her grandfather's past with her own eyes and by returning the treasure- a chinthe of a lion with "red glowing" eyes, to its rightful owner. Eva finds solace and her heart's desire in the Land of Gems where she not only dons the hat of a master sleuth but also vows to restore the balance in nature by safe-guarding the history of Burma. But will she succeed in doing what she wanted? And will her heart learn to trust again? Read this novel for sure to taste the exotic-ness not only in your mind but also with your senses.

The author, Rosanna Ley, is no-doubt a master story-teller and a skillful writer, who divinely crafted this tale along with the beauty of Myanmar. Her carefully chosen exquisite words have turned this novel into a delectable read. The characters are all so flawlessly contrived, and it is quite evident that the author has quite a strong psychological grip on these exquisitely crafted characters of her, which are bound to leave an impression on your mind. Firstly, Eva, the primary character is depicted someone who has a determination to achieve what her heart has aimed for, strong and confident and bit of daring, who adored and respected her grandfather as her own parents after her father's death. And the more I read about her, the more I fell for her. We got a taste of each character's demeanor and inner-self, with the help of their personal back-stories. There were so many characters that were not alive, but still we felt for them and got to know about their character quite remarkably. Moreover, the book has got a secret to be unlocked by Eva and the way the author has narrated and represented the whole things is quite intriguing.

Myanmar's breathtaking landscapes, history, Buddhism, tales of the last serving queen of Burma, teak and the tales of Mogok rubies, will keep you on the edge and all throughout this Eva's incredible journey, you'll lose yourself into the Land of Immortality.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheio de história, de paisagens deslumbrantes maravilhosamente descritas, alguns segredos por revelar, cultura e roupa típica daquela região (tão bem descrita pela autora), só faz ter vontade de pegar no livro novamente e reservar o próximo voo para este país que parece tão fascinante. Tivesse eu mais euros na carteira...

Recomendo.

Opinião completa em http://marcadordelivros.blogspot.pt/2...

[Carla Geraldes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma estreia em grande com esta autora.
Adoro livros que me prendam desde a primeira pagina, seja pelo enredo ou pela forma de escrever. Neste caso, foi mesmo a forma como o livro está escrito desde o inicio.
Claro que depois a estória me envolveu de uma forma incrível.
Os personagens cativam-nos desde o primeiro momento e não há como sentir carinho pelos 2 principais, Lawrence e Maya.
Um livro que me vai deixar marca e que me deixou cheia de vontade de visitar e conhecer a Birmânia.

[Maria João (A Biblioteca da João) · Rating 5 out of 5]

9,5 de 10*

Imagino um dia de Inverno chuvoso e frio. Imagino uma manta bem quentinha e um chá delicioso. É esta a sensação de conforto que este livro me ofereceu! Aconchego e tranquilidade. É um livro para ler devagar, para saborear e aproveitar a escrita de Rosanna Ley.
A acção passa-se, essencialmente, na Birmânia (actualmente Myanmar) e histórias passadas no Oriente trazem sempre uma magia e aura de que este livro não é excepção.

Comentário completo em:
http://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.pt/...

[Adelaide Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma escrita que nos transporta até à Birmânia e nos faz desejar visita-lo. As relações entre pais e filhos e os primeiros amores não esquecidos. Maravilhoso.

[Sofialibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eva Gatsby perdeu o pai muito cedo e a relação com a mãe nunca foi muito chegada. Trabalha numa loja de restauração de antiguidades e vive com o avô Lawrence Fox em Bristol, com quem tem uma relação muito próxima.

O avô esconde um passado na Birmânia onde viveu um grande amor com Maya.

Coincidentemente e a trabalho, Eva, vai viajar para a Birmânia onde vai descobrir um país fascinante e muitos segredos de família escondidos que irão mudar a sua vivência para sempre.

Um romance sobre a história desta família que viveu sempre na sombra do passado e como isso afectou a relação entre todos eles durante tantos anos. Ao mesmo tempo, uma história sobre este país, tão desconhecido aos olhos de todos, sobre um povo sofredor e sobre as suas lindas paisagens, preciosidades e antiguidades. Um país tão rico e tão pobre ao mesmo tempo.

Sobre o amor, sobre aquelas histórias de amor arrebatadores que só acontecem uma vez na vida, sobre o quão difícil às vezes podem ser as relações entre pais e filhos, sobre o passado, a família, heranças e promessas.

É um romance calmo, muito tranquilo e muito bonito, para ler com tempo, para saborear e desfrutar. ❤️

[James Hartley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I´ll be honest, not really my cup of tea. Very sweet and a bit twee - a straight-ahead romantic story, well-written, I suppose, but superficial. I couldn´t work out why I wasn´t enjoying it until I read some guff in the back about Ley´s other books having "the gentleness and authenticity" of Rosamund Pilcher. That gentleness and "elegance" is what I don´t like, I think. It´s all a bit Notting Hill - a weird, white-washed version of the world which doesn´t look like any place I´ve ever lived in. Escapism, I guess.

[Thin San · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular work of Rosanna !
[Zawgyi]
ဒီဇာတ္လမ္းက ဖတ္ေနတုန္းမွာ ဇာတ္သိမ္းခန္းကို ခန႔္မွန္းဖို႔မလြယ္ဘူး။ စာေရးသူက အတိတ္အေၾကာင္းရယ္ လက္ရွိအေျခအေနေတြရယ္ကို ဇာတ္အိမ္နိုင္နိုင္နဲ႕ ေရးသြားတယ္။ ဆန္းသစ္တီထြင္ထားတဲ့ ေရးသားနည္း ပုံစံတစ္မ်ိဳ းပဲ။ ေနာက္ ျမန္မာလူမ်ိဳ း တစ္ေယာက္ ေရးထားသလား ထင္ရေအာင္ စာေရးသူက ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံ အေၾကာင္း ပရိေဘာဂနဲ႕ ေရွးေဟာင္းပစၥည္းေတြအေၾကာင္းကို ေတာ္ေတာ္ ေလ့လာထားတာေတြ႕ရတယ္။ အီဗာနဲ႕ ရာမုန္းရဲ႕ ဇာတ္လမ္းေလးကလည္း ဆြဲေဆာင္မႈရွိတယ္။ ေနာက္တစ္ခုက ဒီစာအုပ္ဖတ္ေနခ်ိန္မွာ မႏၲေလးနဲ႕ ျပင္ဦးလြင္ကို ခ်က္ခ်င္း ထသြားခ်င္စိတ္ ျဖစ္မိတာပါပဲ။ ြ

[Unicode]
ဒီဇာတ်လမ်းက ဖတ်နေတုန်းမှာ ဇာတ်သိမ်းခန်းကို ခန့်မှန်းဖို့မလွယ်ဘူး။ စာရေးသူက အတိတ်အကြောင်းရယ် လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွေရယ်ကို ဇာတ်အိမ်နိုင်နိုင်နဲ့ ရေးသွားတယ်။ ဆန်းသစ်တီထွင်ထားတဲ့ ရေးသားနည်း ပုံစံတစ်မျို းပဲ။ နောက် မြန်မာလူမျို း တစ်ယောက် ရေးထားသလား ထင်ရအောင် စာရေးသူက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အကြောင်း ပရိဘောဂနဲ့ ရှေးဟောင်းပစ္စည်းတွေအကြောင်းကို တော်တော် လေ့လာထားတာတွေ့ရတယ်။ အီဗာနဲ့ ရာမုန်းရဲ့ ဇာတ်လမ်းလေးကလည်း ဆွဲဆောင်မှုရှိတယ်။ နောက်တစ်ခုက ဒီစာအုပ်ဖတ်နေချိန်မှာ မန္တလေးနဲ့ ပြင်ဦးလွင်ကို ချက်ချင်း ထသွားချင်စိတ် ဖြစ်မိတာပါပဲ။ ွ

[Vanessa Montês · Rating 3 out of 5]

(...)

As personagens principais são interessantes, mas de todas as histórias cruzadas, sem dúvida alguma que a melhor era a do avô de Eva e da amante. É uma história sobre amor, perda e redenção que acaba por colocar o romance de Eva totalmente a um canto.

É uma história com descrições lindíssimas e de toda a narrativa essas foram as principais passagens que me ficaram em mente. Um bom livro para quem gosta de viajar, literalmente, pelas páginas que tem à sua frente.

Opinião completa em http://blocodedevaneios.blogspot.pt/2...

[Toast · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a brick of a book and may times I thought 'get on with it'. However, it is worth plodding on because it is a slow burner with some very thought-provoking ideas to stew over long after you have put the book down IF you are so inclined. There are some very atmospheric pieces to absorb and some interesting questions to consider about Burma, the British involvement in Burma and the Tourist Trade. Also, it was published in 2014, a great deal has happened to Burma in that time too. So, if you are expecting a light, romantic 'holiday' read you can read it on that level but you won't enjoy it or get much out of it. For a piece of contempary fiction, it packs quite a punch.
* Note to self - Burma = Myanmar.
Toast

[Louise Greiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

God historie, men den kunne godt have været 100 sider kortere. Holddaop hvor de mennesker tænker og føler mange ting, og sikke mange beslutninger de tager på baggrund af antagelser, som kunne have været afklaret ved at stille et simpelt spørgsmål.

[Ana Goulart · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5. É uma leitura agradável que nos faz viajar a um país distante, que nos é apresentado de forma idílica. Gostei do livro e recomendo - o. O único senão é a previsibilidade do seu final.

[Asia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Return to Mandalay is a slightly more ambitious version of some of the Mills and Boon novels. It reads well, but it is full of clichés and simplifications. Upon reading that a character that went to Myanmar from England thought it looked 'like if she found herself on the other side of the world', I could not help wondering how many more revelations of this kind we will get. And the answer is- very many.

It is quite a predictable story, I was telling my friend what it was about and they could predict most of the story until the very end. There is some historical background of the WWII but again, it is presented in quite a superficial way, with the history being more of a pretext to serve us more sentimental story about the love between a Burmese and an Englishman. Story, once again written in a language that is neither particularly creative nor engaging. It is meant to be an unusual love story that seems pretty ordinary. Whenever an opportunity presents itself to present something a bit more exciting and in-depth, it is basically omitted or skimmed over. The book could really do with developing a bit more the relationships between the British and the locals is more depth rather than sticking to the stereotypes. Tan Twan Eng did such an amazing job in his books and proved it was possible.

The detective story, just as the love story/stories is very naive. A genius plan of Ramon on how to reunite the two chinthes belonging to his grandmother's family might have been written out by a school child. It made me smile and I rooted for the characters, but it was just too simple and too unrealistic to ever happen in real life.


That being said, it reads fast and well and is engaging enough it was a nice distraction on the public transport, but the characters are just too flat and the story too predictable for me to give it above two stars. Maybe if you approach the book without expectations or with better knowledge of the writer, you will enjoy it a lot more. But if you expect more adequate historical background and details and a complex plot, this is not the best choice

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novel set in Burma

A book of well over 500 pages that passes like a dream. Myanmar, formerly Burma, is gorgeously evoked, and in such colourful terms that it had me wanting to drop everything and book myself on the next plane. I too wanted to walk across the U Bein Bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world, savour the smells of hot Sandalwood, visit the places described and enjoy the refractive light on the Mogok and pigeon-blood rubies that are all part of the story….

But this is a country that has had a very difficult history and is only just emerging; and Eva, the main character, has to weave her way through the intricacies that are modern day Myanmar. Eva is asked by her employers in Bristol to head out to Myanmar and supervise the export of chosen antique artefacts. At her Grandfather’s request, she packs into her bags a beautiful, single chinthe, given to him during his time in the Far East leading up to WW2, when the country was Burma. He asks her to match it up with its other half (they invariably come in pairs and serve as guardians outside pagodas). It is her quest to do so that forms the main storyline, and she thereby discovers so much more of her Grandfather’s history and life. Add romance and intrigue, international skulduggery and food, flavours and feel of the country, all combined with a gripping read – a book that makes for a wonderful combination that will truly allow you to wallow in a beautiful part of the world.

We also have an author Q & A with Rosanna Ley: http://www.tripfiction.com/burma/

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted on http://beccasbooooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Seriously, if you haven't read anything by Rosanna Ley yet, why not? Because I am telling you, she is SUCH an incredible storyteller, and I have completely fallen in love with Return to Mandalay, just like I did when I read The Villa. I've been hopelessly affected by her story, torn inside out, and I couldn't help but burst into tears when I turned the final page. Return to Mandalay crawled underneath my skin and shook me up, leaving me feeling a little breathless and at a loss for words. Rosanna Ley, you are incredible. I don't know how you do it, but you do it, and I love you for it.

Luckily, I was accepted for an eBook copy of Return to Mandalay by the fantastic publishers Quercus, after I spotted the title on Net Galley and couldn't hit the request button quick enough. Ever since I read The Villa by Rosanna, I've always felt a little drawn to her stories somehow. I was completely sucked into The Villa, I remember walking around in a bit of daze afterwards and having this insane, almost obsessive urge, to jump on a place and head to Sicily in Italy, where her novel The Villa is set. This urge is still alive and kicking today, because I just want to SEE and FEEL the place where Rosanna brought her story to life. So anyway, when I spotted Return to Mandalay looking gloriously perfect on Net Galley, I knew that I had to have it, because I needed more of what the magical author had to offer. And boy, she knocked me for six with this one.

Firstly, what an adventure! I'm being serious, readers. This was incredible. Rosanna begins Eva's gorgeous story in Bristol, England. More specifically, in The Bristol Antiques Emporium, where Eva spends her days repairing and restoring pieces of old furniture. That is until Eva's boss, Jacqui Dryden, gives Eva a task that could change the course of Eva's life entirely.

'Yangon, Bagan and Mandalay,' she said. 'That's where you'll be going. Ten days should be long enough. You'll have to take internal flights. I'll give you all the details in advance, of course.'

From the dreary, grey skies of Bristol, Eva travels to Burma, where her world collides with another one entirely. Before Eva leaves, she is summoned by her grandfather, who needs her to do something very important for him. He hands her the chinthe that has traveled between both worlds and provides her with two addresses.

'Those addresses I gave you,' he said. 'That's where she used to live, before the war, you know.'
'She?'
'The person I want you to look for,' he said. 'I need you to find out the truth of what happened.'

From that moment on, Eva becomes determined to find out everything about the woman that her grandfather is desperate to hear about. Return to Mandalay was beautiful, incredibly emotional and a story that will stay with you for a lifetime.

What I found fascinating, besides the entire novel, was how Rosanna managed to switch not only between her characters, but between the past and the present too. It was brilliant, and such an exciting way to really grasp each character's history and life.

A particular character that this technique worked extremely well with was Eva's grandfather, Lawrence. Just like Eva, as soon as this other woman from Mandalay was mentioned, I was intrigued. Not only was Lawrence a kind, gentle man, but his memory was still alive from his days spent in the war over in Burma, a time now long gone. But he has never forgotten a certain someone, and Rosanna perfectly took me back in time, to see things from Lawrence's point of view, including the moment that he fell in love. This switching backwards and forwards was just sensational, and it really allowed me to see the whole story from a number of key perspectives.

Something that was obvious to me, as was the case in The Villa, were Rosanna's absolutely gorgeous descriptions of Burma. Oh my goodness gracious me. Rosanna has such a gift when it comes to bringing a place to life with words. Her imagery is spot on. Every tiny little detail is picked up on. The sunsets, the pagodas, the Irrawaddy River, the Burmese homes, the streets and markets. Every smell, sight and sound felt almost as if I was experiencing it first hand. I feel like I've been to Burma and seen, smelt and heard everything for myself. It's magical, each setting made incredibly real by the way the author describes them. God, she really is just amazing. You need to read one of Rosanna's novels to really understand where I'm coming from, because there is just nothing like her words to take you away from everyday life and reality. Pure escapism, maybe not completely chick-lit, but definitely something that you need to try anyway.

Another character that played a major role in Return to Mandalay was Eva's mother, Rosemary. When Rosemary was first introduced to me, I felt an intense sadness on her part. Something had gone terribly wrong in Rosemary's life, that much was obvious, but she just seemed as if something was missing... Not only had she lost her husband Nick, but in the same moment she had closed herself up and I guess, in a way, removed herself from Eva and Lawrence's life. I can understand this because grief is insane, and works in so many different ways with different people. Rosanna did an exceptional job when describing the character to me, and whenever I thought of Rosemary, I just felt like she had given up on herself. The relationship between Rosemary, her daughter and father was one of many complexities, and it was incredibly interesting to watch out Rosanna allowed it to play out.

There are just so many themes and ideas rolling around in Return to Mandalay, far too many for a mediocre writer like me to talk about without making a complete mess of things. Also, for you to really enjoy this story, you should experience the entire novel for yourself. I've mentioned a few things about the characters and how bloody beautiful Rosanna's settings are, but this is a fierce story of love, fate and separation. An journey so intensely moving that I'm finding it impossible to describe it with just my words.

From Bristol to Burma, Eva follows the trail to the woman her grandfather never wanted to say goodbye to. I was choked up, to tell you the truth. Rosanna, I'm so sorry this review isn't put together very well, and I probably haven't made an ounce of sense either, but I just want to say thank you! Thank you for writing such an incredible novel that whisked me away to Mandalay. Perfection.

Becca's Books is rating Rosanne Ley's Return to Mandalay with nothing less than five cupcakes. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it. DAMN! Just magnificent, I'm telling you.

[L F · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This is Burma and it is unlike any land you know about. “
*Rudyard Kipling*

This divine novel is escapism at its very best.

A young woman, Eva, is an antique furniture restorer. She is pleasantly surprised when her employer requests her to go to the ‘Golden Land’ of Myanmar. When Eva‘s grandfather finds out about her trip, he asks her to do a special favor for him. His request is a bit of a shock to her. She was aware he had worked in the teak timber business when the country was called Burma and that he had enlisted in a Indian Division of the Ghurka Rifles. But she was now being requested to return an ancient chinthe to a very special friend.

Eva then starts on a journey of mystery, romance, danger and a cultural awakening. She walks on a thin line of what is apparent, yet unaware of the threats that stalk her.

The author, Rosanna Ley, has an uncanny ability to magically transport you to an exotic land, then surround you with sounds, smells and visuals that completely set you down in a wonderful foreign land she uses as characters in her books.

I am now ready to go on a trip to Cuba, in Miss Ley’s book “Last Dance in Havana “.

And........you need to pick up this book and escape to Myanmar.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosanna Ley has captured the sights and sounds of Myanmar perfectly in her novel 'Return to Mandalay.'

Having been fortunate enough to visit this magical country myself, I can honestly say that the sights and smells described are very evocative of the place. Memories of places such as the UBein Bridge, Mandalay, Bagan and Yangon all came rushing back to me with her beautiful descriptive writing. If you have not been there, you will certainly want to after reading this novel, to quote Rudyard Kipling "This is Burma, it is unlike any land you know about."

Besides being a wonderful virtual travel experience, it is also a tale of romance and intrigue. The protagonist Eva. finds herself heading to Myanmar not only on business but also on a mission for her grandfather. An emotional and fascinating love story.

Recommended to anyone wanting to forget the reality of everyday life for awhile, this novel is perfect escapism.

[Sílvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Embora tenha iniciado a leitura deste livro com bastante vontade, a princípio não estava a conseguir "entrar" na história. Apesar da leitura fosse fácil e escrita fluída, demorei algum tempo para me sentir parte da narrativa e ter vontade de continuar a ler. Isto acabou por acontecer talvez já a meio do livro, com a narrativa a alternar entre vários personagens e ambientes e, aí sim, valeu a pena.
O final adivinhava-se mas não chegou a ser uma desilusão, talvez não houvesse muitas alternativas ou estas requeriam mais fantasia ou imaginação, o que também não era expectável.
Por tudo isto, acabei por me decidir pelas 3,5 estrelas.

[Linda Louch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this book. Rosanna Ley must have done a lot of research when writing this story as I learnt a lot about the history of Myanmar/Burma as well as the culture and geography of the country. Also the teak industry. It was fascinating and enjoyable reading.

[Carla Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro colorido, cheiroso e emocionante.
É fantástico conhecer Myanmar (Birmânia), através dos olhos destas personagens fazendo me querer visitar este país. Consegui ver a cor, senti os cheiros fortes da comida, das flores e da madeira e do fogo a quando dos bombardeamentos.

[Yanyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't stop reading this book once I've started. This is so beautifully written and makes me want to visit and learn more about Myanmar.

[Zarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted to my blog:

http://www.pagetostagereviews.com/201...

Last year I read Rosanna Ley's stunning novel Bay of Secrets, which not only told a beautiful story but also enlightened me on a piece of history which up until that point was unfamiliar to me; The Lost Children of Francoism. It was one of those novels that was already special when reading it and which I started to appreciate even more with time, as I found myself referencing it back on more than one occassion and recommending it extensively to my friends (in hindsight I would probably give it five stars rather than four!).

So of course I was thrilled when I discovered that Rosanna had a new novel coming out this year and one which once again would be set in a to me foreign location; Burma. This time around the history the story was seeped in was that of European settlers, the Japanese occupation during World War II and tracing back to the last dynasty ruling in the late 19th century.

The story is this: Eva works for an antiquarian in Bristol. When her boss wants to send her on assignment to Burma to authenticate a new order, she's filled with excitement not only at the prospect of finally putting her education and expertise to good use, but also at the chance to breathe in the same air as her grandfather had all those years ago, when he was living in the same place just before and during the Second World War.

When her grandfather, Lawrence, hears of the trip he not only tells Eva a little more about what his life was like so far away from his British home, but he also adds a request of his own. He wants his granddaughter to take a chinthe - a small replica of one of the statues that guard temples and pagodas - he has cherished for decades and return it to the person who gifted it to him in the first place. Eva is more than happy to fulfill her grandfather's request, though she doesn't realise yet quite what it is she is saying 'yes' to.

What follows is an extensive journey through Burmese history as Eva and the reader follow in the footsteps of the chinthe; from her grandfather's home in Dorset, to an elderly lady (Maya) in Pyin Oo Lwin and all the way back to the Royal Palace in Mandaley. The story jumps from Lawrence's flashbacks to Maya's stories and is held together by Eva in the present, who is the one connecting all the pieces together. It's a fascinating trip, touching upon many different lives along the way. Many of these seem insignificant at the time, but they leave a lasting impression on the history of the chinthe and the people it connects along the way.

As soon as I started reading I fell in love with Eva and the sheer passion she radiates for her job and antiques. She was a very likeable and sympathetic main character, even when faced with secrets from both her grandfather's past and those of the people she meets on her travels into foreign territory. Combined with her independence and fierceness in the present storyline, which runs parallel to that of the chinthe's journey, I was instantly taken by her wonderful persona.

The beautifully lush descriptions of Burma and glimpses into its harrowing yet also incredibly fascinating history also were an eye-opener to me. Add to that the bittersweet story of Lawrence and Maya, and the intriguing discoveries Eva made along the way and I found this a diverse and compelling read from start to finish.

[Sue Upton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea, read it as it was recommended to me, but found it to be a few notches up from Mills And Boon, very predictable ending. Won’t rush to read any more from this author.

[Ailish Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was the first book I have read by Rosanna Ley and I cannot wait to read her others!

Our story begins in Bristol, England where we meet Eva Gatsby who repairs and restores old pieces of furniture in The Bristol Antiques Emporium. Her employers ask her to travel to Mandalay to verify some antiques but before Ava travels to Burma she is summoned by her grandfather, who needs her to do something very important to him. He gives Eva a chinthe which has travelled between two different worlds. Eva is determined to find out everything about her grandfathers past.
Rosanna keeps us engrossed by not only switching between characters but between the past and present too so we really grasp each characters history. Especially in the case of Eva's mother, Rosemary who played a pivotal role in the novel. We get a sense of sadness, that life has been hard for Rosemary including loosing her husband and of the struggled relationship she has with Eva and her father.

This was such a gorgeous story and Rosanna is an incredible storyteller. I have completely fallen in love with Return to Mandalay. The descriptions of Asia were magnificent it was almost like we were travelling with Eva, seeing the same sights, smelling the same scents. She really brought the country and the people alive on the page.

This is a must read!

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Return to Mandalay Bay was my second book by Rosanna Ley. I previously really enjoyed her novel, The Villa, which is still my favorite book by her. When Eva set off to several countries in Asia to purchase antiques for her employer, she also agreed to deliver a treasure to a mysterious woman for her grandfather. I loved the Asian setting and really felt that I learned quite a bit about the cultures of the cities that Eva traveled to for work.

Despite the vibrant locales, this novel read like a young adult book with one dimensional characters who were too impetuous to be believable, hidden treasure guarded by stock villains, and love stories that never quite developed the passion needed to make enduring. I liked Eva in the beginning, but my interest waned from reading too many scenes with her that didn't advance the story. At times, this seemed like a cheesy 1980's heist movie with obvious bad guys and corny dialogue.

I almost can't believe this was written by the same author as The Villa, a story that was so lovely to read! If you pick up anything by this author, select, The Villa.

Please read more of my reviews on my blog: http://fastpageturner.wordpress.com
or follow me on twitter at @dana_heyde

[Judith Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosanna Ley has become one of my favourite authors. I particularly loved this story due to the fact I used to live in the Far East, and I could relate to the story.
I loved all her characters, you felt like you knew them, and cared what was going to happen to them all. I particularly loved Maya and Lawrence's love story set during the war, and the present day, and what happened to them.
Eva, Lawrence's granddaughter is an antique dealer, and was asked by her boss to check out some stock in Burma, which she was thrilled about as she had heard so much about the country from her grandad. Lawrence asked Eva to do him a favour and return something that was given to him by the love of his life during the war.
A novel of adventure, beautifully written, and I shed a tear or two at the end!

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I'd love this book after reading some reviews, but I found it painfully slow to read. I didn't warm to the characters and there were no surprises that could ignite my interest. I did read it all, just in case!

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disappointing read. I felt the author had done and achieved masses of factual background research and that she wanted to put ALL that information into the story. The flow was also disrupted by numerous settings.
Usually I am enveloped by her books, but not so with this one.

[Maggiemaisie · Rating 3 out of 5]

started off good but the book did not hold my attention so gave up! Dissapointed as I really enjoyed Bay of Secrets.

[Jacqui Warrender · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book gave me readers block. found it slow. can't believe it took me two months to finish !