Email Address: tjm@timothymark.plus.com

The British suspect the Indians are developing a nuclear bomb. Three people on the passenger ship Chusan are voyaging to India. The first character is George Baker, a down to earth policeman from Yorkshire, who is being sent to assist the South Indian government in Madras during the time of the General Election. The second character is an Anglican priest, James Mortimer, who is also a special branch detective working for MI-5. An underlying theme of the story is the inner conflict which he experiences in trying to square his religious beliefs with the reality of his work as an undercover agent who carries a gun, and who eventually murders two Indian soldiers. The third character is Felicity Palmer-Smith, an Oxford graduate, and the daughter of the senior British diplomat in Madras. Neither her father, nor James who becomes her lover, realise her true identity. She double-crosses both of them, whilst at the same time betraying her Indian lover. Within the historical political realities of South India in the early 1960s the story moves swiftly between a college in Bangalore, the Indian police headquarters in Madras, and the sleepy, beautiful and culturally rich city of Tanjore. Racism, religion, jealousy, adultery and betrayal are interwoven themes in a romantic adventure story set in the authentic atmosphere of modern India. Chusan is a thrilling and exciting story that provokes the reader to reflect upon issues of religion, politics, love, adultery, life and death....