The Lady in the Tree: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya

The Behind The Smile Series consists of seven volumes, which tell the story of Lek, a bar girl in Pattaya, Thailand. Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family in the northern rice belt of Thailand. A catastrophe occurred out of the blue one day – her father died young with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was just twenty years of age, and the only one who could prevent the foreclosure of the family farm, and allow her younger sister and two brothers to continue their education. However, the only way she knew how was to go to work in her cousin’s bar in Pattaya.

Can a Pattaya bar girl ever go back to being a regular girlfriend or wife?

'Behind The Smile' is a look into one part of Thailand, a country known around the world as 'The Land of Smiles'.

The Lady in the Tree continues straight on from book three, Maya - Illusion. Lek is still in business with her old friend Ayr and they mean business as well, especially when rivals from nearby try to intimidate them. The two friends come up with a daring solution, which they can't even discuss with their friends, family or husbands. Soom is still at university in Bangkok and doing well in spite of having problems of her own, let alone looming final exams, which political upheaval in the capital threatens to disrupt. Craig continues to write, but he realises all of a sudden that he has bigger problems than finishing and selling his books. An old friend and an old lady give the three women some remarkably similar and accurate advice, but where will it get them?