Stepping Stones: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya

Behind The Smile – Volume 5

by

Owen Jones

Four years after the events of The Lady in the Tree, life in the quiet Thai village of Baan Suay appears to have settled—at least on the surface. Lek and her friend Ayr continue to grow their small business empire, adapting with cleverness and grit to the ever-shifting social and economic tides of rural Thailand. But Lek’s focus is beginning to shift. Her interest in local politics brings her face to face with troubling signs of corruption, forcing her to confront questions of loyalty, justice, and community responsibility.

Meanwhile, Craig remains committed to his writing, still in search of the elusive bestseller, while Soom returns from university in Bangkok, trying to find her place in a family and society transformed by time, experience, and the subtle but constant influence of modernity.

When the well-connected Champunot family from Bangkok enters their lives, old boundaries blur. The newcomers bring opportunity—but also complications and secrets that threaten to derail the fragile balance Lek and Craig have worked so hard to maintain.

Stepping Stones explores the next phase in the lives of a close-knit Thai family shaped by poverty, perseverance, love, and the experience of one woman’s escape from, and return to, village life. This deeply personal story continues to examine the collision between tradition and change, ambition and duty, and the uneasy role of the foreigner in Thai society.

In this fifth volume of Behind The Smile, the past isn’t buried—it’s a stepping stone to everything that follows.