Belsize Park author turns book talk into party of Asian delights

An intimate crowd intrigued by the allure of the orient were treated to cocktails and exotic canapes at an author talk held at a Primrose Hill charity shop.

Author Barbara Bisco, 76, from Belsize Crescent in Belsize Park, spoke about Asian religion and mysticism, as well as reading extracts from her two books set in Thailand and Indonesia, at Mary’s Living and Giving charity shop in Regent’s Park Road.

The free event, the Allure of the Orient, included sex on the beach cocktails and nibbles made by daughter Jasmine Montgomery, who is also the director of publishing company, Black Lotus, which produces Ms Bisco’s novels.

Ms Bisco, who has lived in both Thailand and Indonesia, said: “The shop could hold 20 people and there were about that many there so we were tightly squeezed in. But it was like a party.

“I have spent my life in those international communities so I wanted to write about the places I know so well.”

The talk was part of a series of events linked to Asia and its culture to be held at the shop over the next few weeks.

Ms Bisco’s third novel, Tiger with the Human Soul, is due to come out at the end of the summer.