Warm New Year greetings to all my friends.
As 2026 dawns, Colin and I celebrate our Emerald Wedding Anniversary—55 years of shared life, laughter, and grace. I’m deeply grateful for every person who has walked with us along the way.
My story began in Burma, shaped by the unlikely union of an Iranian Muslim father and an English Catholic mother. Those early years—shadowed by war yet lit by unexpected mercy—became the foundation of my writing life.
My memoirs and novels—Heaven Tempers the Wind, The Sides of Heaven, Count Your Blessings, Opera, Orchids and Oz, Chocolate Soldier, and The Soprano—honour resilience, conviction, and the quiet courage found in ordinary people.
In every book, I write to illuminate the human spirit: its capacity to endure, to forgive, and to rise.
