Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodman

Jana is a Scottish woman who has inherited her Grandfather's house in Indian Hill station.  Her son doesn't want to her to go, but she's not ready to grow old in their family castle in Scotland.  She takes herself to India with her maid and that's where her adventures really begin...

Henry Holt and Library Thing gave me the opportunity to read and review this book (thank you).  It has been published, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  It's about life in a small Indian village is that is being threatened by a dam that is being proposed.  The merchants have decided to make the village a tourist stop.  They're pleasantly surprised to see Jana turn up and take over an abandoned home that needs work.

Jana is discouraged to see how much work must be done to make it habitable.  Her first challenge is to get the monkeys out of the house.  She does, with the help of a bagpipe player.

Jana's house keeps filling up with people from the village who had no home.  They're content to sleep on the floor and work for her or run errands.  And soon they become a sort of family to her.

How the village merchants and Jana work to save the village is a charming story and I found myself caring about all the various characters, no matter how strange they might be.

Why not stop at Jana's house and see what it's like to live in India when you've been adopted by a village?  I know you'll enjoy it.

Happy reading.