New mystery novel, set partly on the hippy trail to Kathmandu and partly in the present.
1976: friends, Marcus and Ruth, go missing in Afghanistan during an overland bus trip to Kathmandu. A generation later, Ruth’s niece Amber, haunted by the disintegration of her family, determines to get at the truth of their disappearance. Was it murder, as her father suspected, or a suicide pact as the police believed?
Tracking down the trip’s bus driver, Cassidy, Amber starts to piece together a lost world – the mystical vibrant hippy trail to India – and colourful characters like Juliet, who imagined herself the reincarnation of an Edwardian traveller. As the mystery surrounding her aunt and the charismatic Marcus unfolds, Amber begins a journey of discovery of her own, that will lead her not only into the dark secrets of the past and lost love, but face to face with a tragedy much closer to home.
Loved this book. I downloaded it as soon as I saw it mentioned in the Swagman Times. It jogged lots of memories of our Hann Overland trip in Sept ’79. I married the driver – Charles, typical overland story! We have just returned from an eight month around the world trip, this time a little more 3 star than backpacker.