Jagannath

One hundred years, five continents, two families, and two fabulous diamonds. Jinja, Uganda, 1939. Akhilesh Pendharkar has requested an elderly friend to deliver a sealed package. The old man is unexpectedly taken ill by the roadside and a young British teacher, Walter Adams, runs to his aid. Adams could not have known that his act of compassion would lead to him having to flee the town and escape across Lake Victoria, accused of robbery and murder. The incident is to haunt Adams for...
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One hundred years, five continents, two families, and two fabulous diamonds. Jinja, Uganda, 1939. Akhilesh Pendharkar has requested an elderly friend to deliver a sealed package. The old man is unexpectedly taken ill by the roadside and a young British teacher, Walter Adams, runs to his aid. Adams could not have known that his act of compassion would lead to him having to flee the town and escape across Lake Victoria, accused of robbery and murder. The incident is to haunt Adams for the rest of his life, following him from Africa to war-time Britain, to Singapore and Sri Lanka with the Royal Navy, to a new home in a small town in Massachusetts in the United States, and to the Caribbean.Seventy years later in London, England, a chance encounter between two younger members of Adams' family exposes very different views of Walter Adams. But a dusty box of diaries hides the real story of Walter Adams and his extraordinary legacy. JAGANNATH draws on previously unpublished diaries and letters to create an authentic historical background against which the story of Adams and Pendharkar is set. This carefully researched book looks back to a time of flying boats, mighty battleships and the luxury of transatlantic liners, a world before cheap air travel made the world a much smaller place. In post-war England, a hero returns home to his family struggling to survive in a bombed-out city. In small-town Massachusetts, the bank manager is still a pillar of the community. And in Uganda, the Asian family of Akhilesh Pendharkar is expelled from the country, leaving behind their homes and their possessions.But JAGANNATH also looks to present injustices and future choices. Why do we exploit the poor to supply the diamonds which demonstrate our wealth? And is Britain justified in still holding on to the spoils of Empire?Family trees can be anything but dull."Strong and confident" ... "Incredibly well-written" ...THIS EDITION INCLUDES SOME SUGGESTED DISCUSSION POINTS FOR BOOK CLUBS