Thrust from the infinity of wheat fields into the warp of the Rockies, Selkirk and Purcell mountains, the light that defined a frightful, but interesting, high school life challenged me.
Our neighbours were all Italian—migrants to Canadian mining towns. With his Welsh-born farmers’ busyness, my father found strange their art of dolce far niente—that is, the sweetness of doing nothing. They practised it, “Come in. Come in. Sit down. Taste my homemade vino.” My father adapted.
And the flames of railway trestles burning and women parading nude colored life. Doukhobors (a sect that had fled persecution in Russia) settled in the Kootenays. They protested, having to send their children to public schools.
Wearing a babushka and twirling spaghetti, not only did I survive those years, but, I thrived.
Vancouver, the “big city,” where I discovered traffic lights and city buses, claimed me for medical lab training, and I worked the night shift in the blood bank to put myself through university.
I’ve worked in cancer research, taught at tech schools, become a registered massage therapist, taken up energy schooling in NY., married and raised two kids, and, at 76, published A Many Layered Skirt, a biography about a young Chinese girl trying to keep one frightening step ahead of the soldiers, during the Japanese occupation.
My husband, of 56 years, was Chinese. Our mixed marriage was intriguing, and happiness was ours. Interests in people, cultures and places took us around the world. Many of those adventures find their way into my writing. He passed away, throwing my life into chaos. Now, I’ve picked up the pen, again. I've edited and revamped the Bond Series. It is now titled: Love is Forever Series.
Book One: Temptation and Surrender: A Secret Love Child Romance Novel.
Book Two: The Fallen Sniper Tears: A Sniper Romance Novel.
Book Three: A Mystical Embrace: A Mystical Romance Novel.
Book Four: The Madam's Friend: Flawed, Textured, Vulnerable Soul Mates.
https://marlenecheng.com
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/author/marlenecheng
https://www.goodreads.com/marlenecheng
marlene.cheng@telus.net