Spanning fifty years from the days of the British Raj to the granting of full independence after the Japanese conflict, Bewitched by Burma tells a vivid & often humorous tale of the challenges of life in Burma faced by Anglican missionaries. Setting out on the five-week sea passage to Burma, these men & women left comfortable but boring lives in Edwardian Britain in search of adventure. Their task was to preach Christianity in a Buddhist land about which they knew little. Once there, they rapidly fell in love with the country, its rich culture & warm people, whom they grew to respect deeply. From descriptions of tea on the lawn with the Viceroy to daily struggles with insects, illness & climate, & adventures with bullock carts & early motor cars, their letters home contain fascinating vignettes of a long-extinct colonial way of life alongside a daily life in Burma which is largely unchanged today. Author & narrator Anne starts the book with stories of the myths & legends lying behind the country`s past, & recounts many memories from her childhood in Burma. She also gives a key insight into its politics, history & geography, & reproduces a vivid first-hand account of the devastating trek from Burma to India to escape the Japanese occupation, written in the mid-1940s. Her husband shared her interest in Burma, having served there in the Indian army, & some of his memories are included. As Aung San Suu Kyi takes her rightful seat in parliament & Myanmar re-emerges onto the world stage after many decades of exclusion, Bewitched by Burma gives a unique insight into the country`s complex past. The book will appeal equally to today`s travellers & business people, to families of servicemen who served there, & to those interested in the early life of the church
- & even in the introduction of Girlguiding.