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The Beginning – volume 7 in the series Behind The Smile
The Beginning
Behind The Smile – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl in Pattaya
(volume 7)
by Owen Jones
Review by Barry Boy
The Beginning is volume seven in the much-liked series Behind The Smile – The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl in Pattaya by Owen Jones.
Volume One in the series began when Lek was twenty-two and already working in Daddy’s Hobby in Pattaya, Volume Seven goes back to before she was even born – just before, to the days when her mother was young and working in the ‘na’ or rice fields.
Even nowadays, life as a Thai rice-farmer is hard, but for many, there is some mechanisation, but, then, in the early Seventies, it was mostly manual labour.
Pang and her husband, Maar, lived with Pang’s parents and worked their land. They all got on well, and worked for a better future for their family. One day, Pang announces that she is pregnant with their first child, and their lives change, as it always has done in all families around the world.
Lek has a happy childhood on the exterior, but she has her internal dialogue about her fears and insecurities. Ayr and Goong, her best friends, are there to help, but they drift apart for a while when Lek is forced to leave school at the age of twelve.
The stigma is to remain with her all her life.
The Beginning is written in the third person and the cover is apposite, being the same, except in title and colour, as the previous six. It is instantly recognisable in pink, being a diluted form of the colour of Volume One, which is red.
The Beginning: Behind The Smile -The Story of Lek, A Bar Girl in Pattaya (volume 7) will be published on December 26th, 2017 for $3.99, but the price will rice on January 1st to $4.99. However, you can pre-order it now for $2.99 at a discount of up to 45% and have it delivered to your device on Boxing Day, while you are recovering from a hectic Christmas Day.
What could be better?
Pre-order here:
Smashwords: http://smarturl.it/lek7?IQid=mps
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/lek7am?IQid=mps
Kobo: http://smarturl.it/lek7kobo?IQid=mps
It also gives you 25 days to catch up on any Lek Books that you haven’t read yet.
See the full list here: http://smarturl.it/my-books?IQid=mps
That makes two of the volumes that are NaNoWriMo Winners!
NaNo-2017-Winner!
All the best,
and enjoy December despite the rush,
Owen
Podcast: Lek – The Beginning
