The Lotus House

A Five Star Experience - Amazon Reviewer

The Lotus House is an amazing period piece, and a stark reminder of the brave men and women who fought valiantly during World War II, against the toughest of odds. Nancy is a military nurse who volunteers to aid the frontline of injured soldiers, soon meeting Robert, captain of one of the infantry units there. Having already dealt with immense sadness and grief at losing a loved one, Nancy doesn’t want to develop any type of feelings for Robert other than mutual professionalism, but a bond forms between them, built on respect, love, and war.. And while I understand The Lotus House is historical fiction, the events and what occurred within it felt very realistic and true to life to what I would imagine it would have been like for everyone involved in the war, and with what went down at Pearl Harbor. It was beautifully written and riveting, a well-worthy five-star page turner!

Five Stars - Amazon Reviewer - The Lotus House

Amazing story which included the bombing at Pearl Harbour. Looking at the lives of nurses and doctors in the field hospital during wartime. The history of the Japanese invasion & cruelty in Manila & Pacific areas. This together with the touching wartime love story. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Once again Ann Bennett has written a book I could not put down once I started reading it. I felt like I was right there with Nancy as she travelled from country to country, experiencing all the emotions of anticipation, fear, sadness and joy. This book held special meaning for me as my late father-in-law served in the Philippines during WW2. I know he witnessed some horrible things, but he shared very little of it with us.

I always appreciate how Bennett crafts a great story and teach me some history along the way.

Five Stars - Amazon Reviewer - Emotionally Engrossing

A story of grit, valour and determination. Very well penned amidst the background of WW2. A love story flowers silently among uncertainties of war to succeed at the end.

Ann Bennett is an amazing writer. She researches her books well at the same time weaves a beautiful love story around the subject. This is a painful one which takes place during the dreadful war fought against a very cruel enemy in the Philippines during WW2. My father and uncle also fought the Japanese but found it difficult to talk about the atrocities they saw and experienced against this formidable enemy. Thankfully, unlike Ann Bennet’s father, they were not captured so never experienced the prisoner of war camps. Amongst all the horror she’s painted a picture of the great love between two people. Beautifully written.

Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. 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 Fortune Teller of Kathmandu. Along with The Lotus House, published in October 2024, they make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.

Ann is also the author of A Rose in the Blitz, set in wartime London, the first in a new Sisters of War series, and 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 and are published by Bookouture. Her latest book, The Stolen Sisters, published on 29th November 2024 is the follow-up to The Orphan List (published by Bookouture in August this year) and is set in Poland and Germany during WWII.

A former lawyer, Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and lives in Surrey, UK.