Mark Cheng

Mark Cheng was born in Hong Kong in 1930, the eldest of nine children. Following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941, he and his family fled to China in 1942. They were a part of a large population movement which tried to escape from Japanese controlled areas of China. While his family remained in unoccupied China, Mark and his old headmaster and some friends eventually finished up in Bombay, India.

Inspired by his teachers from school, Mark was drawn to a religious life, and entered a Jesuit noviciate in 1949. After two years, however, he realised that Jesuit life was not for him, and he left the noviciate to train as a teacher.

He met his wife at college. They married in 1957 and started a family. With the dawning realisation that Hong Kong would eventually be handed to China, Mark and his family decided to uproot themselves from Hong Kong. While his parents and his siblings decided to move to North America, Mark brought his family to the United Kingdom where they remained ever since. He retired from teaching in 1991.

In his spare time Mark was a Parish Choirmaster, and a Choir Director of a Gregorian Chant Group. He was also a painter and in 2005 was a founder member of the Eagle Gallery Artists group in Bedford.

Marks’ beloved wife Irene passed away in June 2020 and sadly Mark followed in April 2021 aged 91. He leaves behind a son, daughter and five grandchildren.

Father Paul's War was his first novel.

Click here to read the full review.

Click here to read Mark's interview with Female First.


Mark Cheng speaking about Father Paul's War