C. S. Ching

C. S. Ching came to live in Britain in 1979 from her native New Zealand.

She has published three books on her discovery that the disease IBS can be treated with a low-starch diet, two adult novels ( Leaving and Hopes and Fears) a children's novel (Operation Lighthouse), and a biography of her husband, the artist Ray Harris Ching. Surprisingly, the name Ching is not Chinese, but of Cornish origin. She also writes under the name Carol Sinclair.

She lives in Bradford-on-Avon, has one daughter and three grandchildren. She is presently working on a biographical novel about Havelock Ellis, the strange Victorian sexologist.

Operation Lighthouse (Walker Books)

Pix and Me

Shadows of the Jungle

The last thing I remember about my parents is the air exploding in a terrifying scream - my mother's scream. It came from the bungalow. I spun around and stared. My heart nearly burst with fear.

There were soldiers on the verandah. With guns. They were pointing the bayonets at my mother and father. They had wrenched my mother's arms behind her back. They had grabbed Dad. I froze. Even from where I was I could see the fear blazing in his eyes. He broke free for a moment, but they grabbed him again and began savagely pulling him and Mum, away. Then I heard his voice shouting. 'Run - run, Andy. Run. Get away!'

I couldn't run. I was glued to the spot. My breath was coming in gasps. My heart was beating furiously.

'Run!' I heard Dad's desperate yell.

Suddenly, I was set free with an enormous surge of terror. Scrambling over the gate of the high fence that bordered the garden, I ran like mad, into the jungle. Shots flew over my head as I leapt over fallen logs, rushed through thorny bushes, scratching and cutting my legs, stumbling on and on, until the shots and the screams disappeared. Clinging fiercely to me, shivering and screeching, shaking an angry fist was Pix, my best friend. A monkey.