The Literary Circle of Minot-Sleeper Library in Bristol, is pleased to invite the public to a free presentation by Andover author Betsy Woodman. Betsy is the author of Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes, released in 2012, and Love Potion Number 10: A Jana Bibi Adventure, released just this August.

Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes is set in the 1960s in a small Indian Hill Station in what is now Uttar Pradesh, India. Janet Laird (Jana Bibi), a Scottish woman, inherits her grandfather’s house and moves in with her chatty parrot, Mr. Ganguly. When the town becomes threatened by a planned government dam, Jana and her new friends scheme to save the village.

The book is full of adventures, twists and turns. Critics loved the book:

• “What a charming, engaging, and utterly delightful novel!” said author Elizabeth Berg

• New Hampshire Magazine said, “What a wonderful novel… There is delight to be found everywhere in Woodman’s descriptions and dialogue.”

• Publishers Weekly wrote, “Woodman’s debut novel follows a quaint patchwork of characters … demonstrating India’s unique cultural makeup.”

In the newest Jana Bibi adventure, Love Potion Number 10, Jana, Mr. Ganguly, and the gang are back, as their small town in India is baffled by an espionage mystery, and a homemade remedy turns everyone’s thoughts towards love. The Jolly Grant House still welcomes all its visitors with the sign “Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes” hanging proudly outside its front door.

Jana’s fortune-telling has brought a lot of attention to the small town of Hamara Nagar, and now that the town is safe from the threat of being flooded by a government dam, all eyes are on the Scottish-born card-reader and her feisty, loose-beaked parrot, Mr. Ganguly. Some people, though, are not to be trusted, and Mr. Ganguly finds himself at the center of a potential kidnapping that puts Jana and her household on edge.

Meanwhile, love is in the air and, thanks to Abinath’s Apothecary, it’s also in a bottle. Abinath has created Love Potion Number 10 (LPN10, for short) that has Jana asking herself, is a new love possible at age 59?

Praise for Love Potion Number 10

• “Climb straight out of your world and take a stroll to Hamara Nagar, a not-quite-discovered Himalayan hamlet in India in 1961, where the clock is always a couple of minutes behind the times. Miss Marple meets Paul Scott’s Staying On in this charming tale of adventure and intrigue.” – Nayana Currimbhoy, author of Miss Timmins’ School for Girls

• “Delightful.” – Booklist

• “Colorful, exuberant.” – Kirkus Review

Betsy Woodman spent ten childhood years in India, studied in France, Zambia, and the United States, and now lives in her native New Hampshire. She has contributed non-fiction pieces and several hundred book reviews to various publications and was a writer and editor for the award-winning documentary series, Experiencing War, produced for the Library of Congress and aired on Public Radio International. For more information, visit BetsyWoodman.com.

Please join us on Thursday, September 12, from 6:30 to 8 PM at the Minot-Sleeper Library, 35 Pleasant Street, Bristol. The event is free. Refreshments will be served.

A book signing will be held at the end of the presentation. For more information call Rebecca Herr at 744-6526.