On The GOLDEN FLOWER

About the Book

'At 52, I went to live and die there.' A life of retirement with her pet in what had seemed to her as the most beautiful country in the world turned out to be a life of adventure and personal challenges: getting used to living on a houseboat, enduring and enjoying Himalayan mountain and water treks, teaching all ages of Kashmiri students and running schools, exploring her own ideas and beliefs in wonderful exchanges with Kashmiris, both educated and uneducated, facing accusations of spying and murder, fighting for her home, and the final deciding factor of deteriorating health. The presence of her Irish Setter, who accompanied her and journeyed everywhere, affected everything she did and was a source of much fascination to all.

About the Author

Vikki Pitcher was born in Dorset in 1943. After her seventh birthday, she lived a largely nomadic life as the daughter of a military man, as a WRAF Officer, as a married woman, and for thirteen years on her own. She returned to England from Kashmir and then Spain, and settled her beloved Dorset in 2009, in the beautiful Blackmore Vale which inspired her to put together some of her writings about the equally beautiful Vale of Kashmir, both have been described as ‘Heaven on Earth’. This story would be nothing without her companion, Frodo, an Irish Setter of singular and indomitable character, who followed her everywhere in the fields around the lakes and on mountain and river treks, attracting attention and interest.