Book Extract: Mandarin Road By Ann Bennett

I’m so pleased to be welcoming Ann Bennett to Novel Kicks and the blog blitz for her book, Mandarin Road.

A gripping, emotional saga of family secrets and the power of love, set during the Vietnam War…

North Carolina, 2015: Nicole has always idolised her successful father, Ed. But on his deathbed, he reveals a devastating secret he’d guarded for a lifetime. He served in the Vietnam War, fell in love, and fathered a child there. A child he never had the courage to acknowledge.

Huế, South Vietnam, 1968: While her village is rocked by the explosions of the Tet offensive, seventeen-year-old Mai finds a wounded American hiding in her family’s chicken shed. Mai faces an agonising choice. Will she report the soldier to the Viet Cong, who have a stranglehold on the village, or will she risk her life and that of her family to help him?

In 2015, Nicole embarks on a journey into the unknown, travelling to Vietnam on a quest to uncover her father’s long-buried truths. Helped by Greig, an ageing Vietnam vet and his journalist son, Long, she delves into the shocking world her father wanted to forget, plumbing depths of resilience and courage she never knew she possessed.

Will Nicole find her long-lost sister, or will the Vietnam War guard its shameful secrets for ever?

If you are a fan of page-turning, emotional historical fiction like The Women, The Home Front and The Mountains Sing, you will love Mandarin Road.

Mandarin Road is a dual-timeline, standalone book by bestselling historical fiction author, Ann Bennett. Discover this moving, compelling read today.

There’s a chance to win a copy of Ann’s novel, The Bookseller of Kathmandu, below but first, she has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.

*****beginning of extract*****

PROLOGUE
FEBRUARY, 1968
The Citadel, Huế, South Vietnam

CLUTCHING HIS RIFLE, Ed ran down the rubble-strewn street through the gunfire and smoke, his heart in his mouth as bullets pinged around him. They’d been fighting all day and now it was early evening, but the enemy showed no signs of easing the attack.

He lunged towards a concrete gatepost and shrank back behind it. The firing carried on all around him, but at least here he could shelter for a few seconds while he drew breath. His nerves were shredded from all the shelling and gunfire of the past twelve hours, but adrenaline drove him on. He had no choice. He had to survive.

Over the past few days of fierce fighting, of pitched street battles that took place around the citadel in the graceful neighbourhoods of the ancient capital, Huế, Ed had watched aghast as, one by one, ten men in his platoon had either been shot down in an exchange of fire or picked off by a North Vietnamese Army sniper. The enemy gunman was still hiding on the upper floor of one of the wrecked villas in the wide street where the blackened trees had lost their branches to the shelling. The whole place was like a scene from a nightmare. Smoke filled the air. Fires burned in several of the empty houses, flames leaping from broken windows. The road was covered in rubbish and pockmarked with craters and stray bricks from bombed-out buildings. Abandoned cars, their windows smashed, their tyres flat, were stranded at random angles across the street.

Ed desperately needed to make it to the villa at the end of the road where the remainder of his squad of Marines were regrouping and sheltering from the gunfire. He’d got left behind when he’d stopped to reload and his weapon had jammed, and now each time he tried to make a run from his gatepost bullets whistled past him, and he was forced to shrink back behind the concrete pillar.

He glanced at the villa, only a few yards away, his heart thumping. How would he ever make it over there? Here he was a sitting duck. If he showed himself, he was dead.

He took some deep breaths and tried to think through the fog of terror. It came to him that, if he shifted his position slightly, he might have a good view of the sniper, silhouetted in the upper window of the wrecked villa. Perhaps he could pick him off? He leaned slightly to his left, raised his rifle, squinted and fired. Immediately the sniper returned fire, but Ed bobbed back behind the gatepost and held his nerve, repeatedly leaning out and firing shot after shot towards the sniper’s window before dodging back in again. Bullets slammed into the concrete pillar, inches from his head, but Ed hung on. It was him or the sniper – all he needed was a lucky shot.

Sweat dripping from his face, Ed went to reload, realising as he did so that no more shots had been fired his way. Had he shot the sniper? Or was he stalling, hoping Ed would make a run for it?

It wasn’t far to the villa where the others were sheltering. Only a few yards. He could sprint it in seconds. But the sniper could take him down before he’d even made his first step.
He took a breath, leaned out, and fired off two shots before ducking back behind the post and counting the seconds. But no return fire came.

Decision made, he braced himself, only too aware of the weight of his bullet harness, of his heavy pack and his flak vest, his fatigues, soaked in sweat and blood from a wound on his arm he’d picked up earlier in the day. He wiped his brow and pulled down his helmet, then readied his rifle and ran for it, firing off two shots as he ran.

He was only a few steps from the villa. He could see his buddies inside. They were shouting and cheering, egging him on. But then all hell broke loose. There was a deafening thud and the walls of the building cracked and burst apart in front of his eyes, showers of bricks and plaster came hurtling towards him, and in the same instant the villa burst into flames, he was thrown off his feet.

When he opened his eyes, he could feel the heat of the flames from the burning villa, the blast still ringing in his ears, muffling the sound of gunfire. He tried to sit up, but realised he was lying under a pile of bricks and mortar. When he tried to move, pain ripped through his right leg and he cried out, but he gritted his teeth and hauled himself out from under the bricks and rubble, every nerve in his leg screaming in protest. He had to get out of there before the Viet Cong or the NVA came looking.

Once clear of the debris, he realised he’d lost his helmet and rifle. He tried to stand, but pain shot through him again. Unable to put weight on his wounded leg, his only option was to crawl, dragging his injured limb behind him. Spotting the butt of his rifle sticking out from some rubble, he tugged it free and slung it over his shoulder before heading for a gap between the devastated buildings. He had no idea where he was going, but he kept on crawling, slowly and painfully, until he was out the other side.

At the end of that street he came to a ditch with a couple of wooden planks balanced over it. He crawled across the makeshift bridge and along the side of a low, earth embankment that meandered between rice paddies, and away from the town, trying to keep out of sight. It had been drilled into him during training: if you have to crawl, move as slowly as possible to avoid being seen. The excruciating pain was sapping his energy and his resolve, but he kept on going, his breath coming in pants, sweat running down his face and into his eyes, the sickly-sweet taste of blood in his mouth. He needed to find somewhere to hide before he passed out.

*****end of extract***** 

About Ann Bennett –

Ann Bennett writes historical fiction mainly set during the Second World War. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, was inspired by researching her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and by her own journey to uncover his story. It won the Asian Books Blog prize for fiction published in Asia in 2015 and was shortlisted for the best fiction title in the Singapore Book Awards 2016.

That initial inspiration led her to write more books about WWII in Southeast Asia – Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise, Bamboo Road: The Homecoming, The Tea Planter’s Club, The Amulet and The Lotus House, make up the Echoes of Empire Collection. These were followed by two books set in Nepal, The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu and The Bookseller of Kathmandu (published September 2025) make up the Tales of Kathmandu. A further book in this series is planned for early 2027.

Ann is also the author of The Oriental Lake Collection – The Lake Pavilion and The Lake Palace, both set in British India during the 1930s and WWII, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, set in French Indochina.

The Runaway Sisters, USA Today bestselling The Orphan House, The Child Without a Home and The Forgotten Children are set in Europe during the same era. Those books are published by Bookouture along with The Orphan List and The Stolen Sisters, a two-book series focusing on the Lebensborn programme in Nazi Germany. Her latest book, Once We Were Sisters, a standalone story set in France during WW2 was published by Bookouture in January 2026.

Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and lives in Surrey, UK. For more details, please visit her website.

You can also connect with Ann on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Mandarin Road was released in June 2026. Click here to buy. 

(Mandarin Road will be at the bargain price of 99p/c on 8^th July for one day only!)

*****

Win a paperback copy of The Bookseller of Kathmandu by Ann Bennett. 

We have a paperback copy of Ann’s book, The Bookseller of Kathmandu to give away.

It’s open to UK and Europe only.

For more information on how to enter, click this Gleam link.

*Terms and Conditions –

UK & Europe entries welcome. 

Please enter using the Gleam link above.

The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. 

Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  

I (Novel Kicks) am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.