Britta Das, Buttertea at Sunrise Review

Overall Rating

Visual Imagery, Passion, Wisdom, Mystical Culture, Love Story,Spiritual and Philosophical Insights

Too Short, Dust Cover Tips You Off About Outcome.

In this spellbinding book, Britta shares a compelling and moving account of a momentous and transitional time in her life and if you take this journey with her, you will be rewarded. I was tempted to complete it in one sitting, but glad I rationed myself to make it last.

It works on many levels: a journal; cultural snapshot; human observation; tutorial and a yearning love story, executed with an assured and delightfully open use of language revealing sincerity and compassion.

Visually atmospheric episodes are interwoven in the tale of Britta`s engaging interaction with Bhutan`s people and landscape and a gentle humor underscores the weightier issues she has to contend with as a physiotherapist for Voluntary Service Overseas and in coping with her own, traumatic, health problems.

The closing paragraphs of chapters nine and eighteen illustrate the fluency and effortless use of imagery which gives the book its special quality, but there are gems scattered throughout the pages:

' ..others are left to silence and destiny '

' No immediate intent guides my way '

' Somewhere in that contemplation of me versus them, the seed of a feeling of strangeness is planted inside me '

And, with a Zen-like insight, two paragraphs (I`ll leave you the pleasure of discovering them) eloquently encapsulate the wisdom and human potential of the Buddhist concept of acceptance.

Six weeks later I am still carrying evocative images and impressions from the story.

If I was stranded on a desert island this is a book I would want to have with me.

Buttertea At Sunrise would translate without difficulty into a screenplay. A film, with sensitive direction, could be an enchanting and uplifting experience.