• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dragon Lake Books

The home of great stories

  • About
    • Privacy policy
  • Where To Buy
  • Sample Chapters
  • Events
  • My 100 Goals Blog
  • Contact Form
  • Mailing List Sign-up

Lydia’s Song – a book review

July 18, 2017 by Mark Anderson Smith Leave a Comment

I was in tears by the time I’d finished this novel. Katherine Blessan has written a deeply moving story of a young girl’s experiences of being sold into sex slavery in Cambodia.

Lydia’s Song is not a book I’d have normally chosen to read. Neither thriller, nor crime fiction, nor mystery, yet containing elements of each of these that eventually hooked me in to the point where I finished the last half of the book in one sitting, desperate to know how it ended.

The novel starts from Lydia’s point of view, looking back on her time working for a Non Governmental Organisation in Cambodia. I found the beginning slow going initially as it could almost have been a romance as Lydia (the Westerner) develops a relationship with Radha (the Cambodian). I don’t read romance generally, so struggled with the start. Yet even in this, it was fascinating reading about the daily life in Cambodia and I enjoyed that insight. I worked abroad for a time myself, also for an NGO and could relate to some of the struggles and incidents.

Lydia finds a young Cambodian girl in her garden one night – the Song of the title. Song has effectively been orphaned and the story gently shows the developing relationships between Lydia, Song and Radha. Until it all goes wrong…

This for me is where the story really started to come alive as Katherine Blessan manages to create a sense of realism in her descriptions of a child being made into a sex slave, without titillation or eroticising the experience. Harrowing is one word I want to use, yet, because of the way the story is structured, there is a sense of hope throughout.

If you enjoy stories that give you insight into another culture, that contain real characters and deliver an emotional kick, then I recommend Lydia’s Song. If you would like to try it out, a sample is available below.

Available from all good bookshops and also from Amazon on Kindle and in paperback.

About the Author

Katherine tweets @kathblessan
Check out her website at: http://www.katherineblessan.com/

As well as writing, Katherine works as an English and Creative Writing tutor and an Examiner, together with juggling parenting and volunteering in the community. She is married to Blessan – yes, her surname is his first name! – and they travel widely and love to meet new people. Katherine lives with her family in Sheffield, UK.

Other stories by Katherine Blessan include:
• ‘A Heart on Fire’ – a love story inspired by Chariots of Fire. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Fire-Katherine-Blessan-ebook/dp/B06XD2D2FV
• ‘Travels by Wheelchair’ was shortlisted in a Patrician Press competition in 2016 and published in an anthology. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Refugees-Peacekeepers-Patrician-Press-Anthology-ebook/dp/B01MUG2YIV/
• ‘Beyond her Scream’ – a story of a mother-daughter relationship strained by the effects of FGM. Short Story Beyond Her Scream from cutalongstory.com

Filed Under: 100 Words 100 Days, Book Review Tagged With: Cambodia, child sex slavery, Khmer, prostitution, The Killing Fields

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow

Follow me on:

Recent Posts

  • Q2 Halfway point
  • The 12 Week Year – a first quarter review
  • Double Your Salary …Without losing your soul!
  • 40K
  • Progress

Recent Blog Posts

  • Q2 Halfway point

    Q2 Halfway point

    May 12, 2021
    Back in December 2020/January 2021 I wondered if the contracting and job markets in the UK would continue to be dead through till the summer. It seemed possible that I might have to go six months without working and so to put a plan in place to make constructive use of the time seemed sensible. […]Read More »
  • The 12 Week Year – a first quarter review

    The 12 Week Year – a first quarter review

    April 21, 2021
    I recently finished my first 12 Week Year and wanted to review how it went to see if I could learn some lessons from the experience. If you’ve not read it, The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington proposes by working to a 12 week plan, you can get more done […]Read More »
  • Double Your Salary …Without losing your soul!

    Double Your Salary …Without losing your soul!

    June 25, 2019
    I’m excited to share that the hardback of my next book: Double Your Salary …Without losing your soul! will be released for sale on 1st August 2019. I believe that doubling your salary is possible when you understand who you are and what you are capable of. Sharing my story of how I doubled my […]Read More »
  • 40K

    40K

    June 15, 2019
    It might be that weekly posts are all I can manage until the first draft of Fallen Warriors Season Two is complete. I met my target of 10,000 words today and did manage to hit 2,000 words each day this week. That feels good. An accomplishment. I haven’t managed much else, publishing wise. I kept […]Read More »
  • Progress

    Progress

    June 8, 2019
    I wrote last week that I was setting a new target to write 5,000 words a day. Why do I do this to myself? The results are in. I think I managed a thousand words one day that first half week, then I’ve managed 4,790 this week. That’s not even a fifth of what I’d […]Read More »

Footer

My 100 Goals Blog

  • Q2 Halfway point

    Q2 Halfway point

    May 12, 2021
  • The 12 Week Year – a first quarter review

    The 12 Week Year – a first quarter review

    April 21, 2021
  • Double Your Salary …Without losing your soul!

    Double Your Salary …Without losing your soul!

    June 25, 2019
  • 40K

    40K

    June 15, 2019
  • Progress

    Progress

    June 8, 2019

Copyright © 2023 · Author Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in