By Elaine Pinkerton

My latest novel, published by Pocol Press, is newly released. The Hand of Ganesh will be available through the publisher, your favorite bookstore, or from Amazon. It seems that elephant god Ganesh helped me overcome obstacles as I sought to tell this story, one of adoption, travel, and women’s friendship.  Turn back the clock: As I was growing up, my father filled my imagination with visions of India. Richard Beard was a veteran of WWII who’d been stationed in Calcutta as a clinical psychologist for the Army Airforce. After he passed away, I compiled his wartime letters into a book titled From Calcutta with Love – The WWII Letters of Richard and Reva Beard. (Texas Tech University Press, 2002). All my life, I’d wanted to write fiction, and with the publication of Beast of Bengal (Pocol Press, 2005), that dream became a reality. Beast of Bengal is a suspenseful tale set in the China-Burma-India theater of WWII. After visiting Southern India in 2013, I had another story to tell. I brought in Clara Jordan, the autobiographical heroine of All the Wrong Places (Pocol Press, 2017) to join a new character, Arundati Benet, and took both women to Mahabalipuram, an ancient seaside temple complex in Tamil Nadu, India. The Hand of Ganesh spans generations and tells of friendship and bonding. It also presents, as seen through American eyes, a rich tapestry of India.