Marlene Jeanrenaud

This is a story of the extreme power of love and its ability to surmount even supernatural barriers. Omens hint at things to come, and surprises lurk behind every corner. It all began centuries ago when two lovers arranged to be married are separated by royal decree. When Premanand, Neelam's betrothed is murdered, rage drives her to curse those who would separate true lovers. In modern day, Samantha Cooper decides to volunteer at a clinic in Nepal, thinking it would solve her marital and life's problems. There she is handed an ancient document by a patient with the request for help in its translation. Samantha becomes deeply involved in an ancient mystery. When Samantha Cooper begins to fear that her marriage - and her life in general - have gone stagnant, she decides that a stint as a volunteer at a clinic in Kathmandu will help her find herself. While there, she makes a chance discovery of an ancient manuscript, which uncovers a 200-year-old curse of the haunted House of Lotus in Kathmandu. The presence of Luc, her old flame, in Kathmandu suddenly becomes the key to unravelling the mystery of an finding the solution to the curse. Ruth Beling, a family friend of Sam, may be another piece of the puzzle. Just before her eighteenth birthday, it is revealed to Ruth that she was adopted. Having always felt that something was missing in her life, she makes use of her adoptive parents' birthday gift by leaving for Kathmandu, not knowing that she has been there before. A familiar face on the street hints at an eighteen-year-old secret that could change Ruth's life forever. The source of the curse is the heartache of lovers betrayed and reaches out with its power to touch modern day people, separating them, bringing them together, and creating painful reunions which threaten to tear families apart as the truth comes out. Amid it all, Sam tries to find the purpose of her existence in a world where East and West battle for understanding.