Anne Thompson’s life in 1956 was typical of a normal, solid, middle-class English woman. Then, for a lark, she wrote a letter to an American Air Force corporal, David Beckman, based in France, and he becomes a pen-pal. This sets off a chain of events, pushing her on an amazing journey through a life she could never have imagined.
If Anne had used her gift of heightened intuition, sometimes able see into the future through dreams and visions, and looked ahead, she would have been stunned by what lay in store for her. Would she have had the courage to face it? David Beckman, fell in love with her before he even met her in person, and when he came to England on leave, swept her into the tumultuous circle of her destiny.
Anne’s friend, Julian Sinclair, charming, good looking and aristocratic, was a successful, journalist/photographer. Anne, at nineteen, seven years his junior, was too young for him to consider having anything other than a platonic relationship with her; fighting against his deep attraction he thinks wise to ignore. They spent their time together, discussing philosophy, politics and the arts. Anne’s parents had made sure their young daughter had been well-educated. Anne, intelligent, strongly opinionated and beautiful, was an amusing companion for Julian. Anne hated the English class system, the poverty it produced. Julian argued it was not just relegated to Britain warning her not only in England is there a class system. This was a source of minor conflict between them.
A mysterious, handsome Indian Sikh, with beautiful dark luminous eyes appears one day while she is on an errand for her mother. Scrutinizing her as she waited for her order, he tells her, “You have the gift. Follow your heart. You will cross a vast stretch of water. There will be tears, but when destiny’s circle is complete, you will be happy.” After paying the shopkeeper, she looks around, but the Sikh has vanished. Was he real or a figment of her fertile imagination?
Swept away on an emotional tide, over which she feels she has little control, she ventures on a diverse journey of despair and joy, learning many hard lessons. Her life becomes almost intolerable until she meets an American Air Force pilot, who befriends her. Through twists of fate, coincidences, the Cold War and political upheaval leading up to the onset of the Vietnamese War, all four men influence her life for better and for worse.
Over the years, the Sikh seems to appear at times of crisis. Who is this mysterious foreigner? Where does he come from, and why did he choose to come into her life?
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