Email Address: tjm@timothymark.plus.com

Living in the Church of South India amongst the hospitable and friendly Tamil Christian communities of Dharapuram and Thanjavur left an indelible impression. Chusan began with the scribbling of a few notes to record memories of people and places. The project was started and largely continued during holidays in Pembrokeshire during the summers of the early 1980s when Kathryn and Richard were young children. Over the years these scribbled notes developed into a story.

James is a fictitious Anglican priest. Clearly there are intimations of autobiography in some of the events described in the novel. How he came to become a double agent, carrying a semi-automatic pistol, must surely be attributed to warm summer evenings in the caravan in Saundersfoot where my imagination rioted. Felicity is clever, attractive and beautiful. She too is entirely fictitious. But no doubt lurking somewhere in her character and behaviour are unconscious memories of women I have loved and admired in my early years. I suspect that some of the ideas of the American psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan are an obvious source of ideas here. His view that behind any relationship there lurks a memory of a previous relationship or encounter, is provocative and I suspect it has influenced me. Parvathi is fictitious also. She is the mysterious and beautiful Indian girl with whom James falls in love. All women, I believe, and particularly Indian women, have an air of mystery about them. If that were not the case why does the male psyche seek them so earnestly? Freud no doubt is a clear influence upon me here although maybe the character of Parvathi is an embodiment of all those qualities in Indian women which I most admire. All three characters interact in a plot which is at times improbable but also entirely possible. Various locations are described as I remember them, or gleaned from research, the great Hindu temple in Thanjavur, the Rock Temple in Tiruchirapalli, the St Peter's Church in Thanjavur where I was Presbyter, and the United Theological College compound in Bangalore. Other real people are referred to as I remember them and are mentioned to provide a degree of authenticity to the plot, yet others are completely fictitious like the ludicrous Rev Fred Gnanamuthu who does not resemble any of the devout CSI presbyters that I have known. On the other hand, some of his statements have an air of authenticity about them.

Finally, the book is largely a romance and adventure story. It is easy to read and carries within it an element of mystery and excitement. The story unfolds at a fast pace! At one level it is an exciting adventure story. At another level some serious questions and dilemmas are indicated. It is my hope that as my readers reflect on these issues, the reading of the novel will prove more enjoyable and worthwhile.