Betsy Woodman draws upon her vivid memories of growing up in India—playing hide–and-seek in the Mughal tomb behind her house in New Delhi, studying the dance styles of Bharat Natyam, and attending boarding school at the foot of the Himalayas—to write her gleefully charming Jana Bibi Adventure series. Love Potion Number 10 (Henry Holt; on sale August 13, 2013) is the second installment of this series, and Woodman’s hardcover debut, following the success of the beloved Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes.
In her recent book, Jana, her loyal parrot, and the gang at the Jolly Grant House are back as their small town in India is rocked by an espionage scandal and a homemade remedy that has love on everyone’s mind. Jana’s fortune-telling has brought a lot of attention to the small town of Hamara Nagar, and now that the dust has settled and the town is safe from the threat of being flooded by a government dam, all eyes are on the Scottish-born card-reader Jana and her feisty, loose-beaked parrot, Mr. Ganguly. Some people, though, are not to be trusted, and Mr. Ganguly finds himself the target of a potential kidnapping that puts Jana and her household on edge.
Meanwhile, love is in the air and, thanks to Abenath’s Apothecary, it’s also in a bottle. Abenath has created an intoxicating brew that he calls Love Potion Number 10, which seems to have Jana in a tizzy. While she explores her newest hobby, dream interpretation, her head is swimming with questions: Is a new love possible at age fifty-nine? If so, would she ever marry again? And then when an old flame arrives and rekindles long-gone feelings, Jana begins to think that Love Potion Number 10 just might be the magic elixir its inventor thinks it is.
Evocative of the mise en scène found in the stories of Alexander McCall Smith and in the film Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, LOVE POTION NUMBER 10 and the Jana Bibi Adventure series is captivating, filled with charm, wit, and grace.
Betsy Woodman is the author of Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes and Love Potion Number 10: A Jana Bibi Adventure. She spent ten childhood years in India, studied in France, Zambia and the United States, and now lives in her native New Hampshire. She has contributed nonfiction pieces and several hundred book reviews to various publications, and was a writer and editor for the award-winning documentary series, Experiencing War, produced for the Library of Congress and aired on Public Radio International. Please visit www.betsywoodman.com for her blog and lots of photos.
Location Meeting Room
January 11, 2014, 2:30 – 4:00 pm (Snow date: 2/1/14 at 2:30 pm)
Contact Info Jerry Carbone, 802-254-5290
