Faith, Hope and Christopher

About the Book

“Faith, Hope and Christopher is a novel, not a history book.  The intention is to intrigue, entertain and maybe even scandalise the more serious minded reader.  Historical gaps have been filled seamlessly  with plausible invention, for example, the six months or so when Christopher Wren disappeared have been accounted for and details about Faith Coghill of whom there is almost no available information come vividly to light.

        Christopher Wren, who accomplished so much must have been propelled by a ruthless determination from within and pressures from without.  And behind every such man is a determined woman.”

About the Author

Clive Perry was born in 1930 and taken to Bombay, India by his parents just before his sixth birthday. He had a conventional education mostly at boarding school but the planned three year stay stretched to eleven years because of World War Two. India became his home until he was almost seventeen. When the Japanese were at the height of their power several families in Madras where his parents were living, wished to have their offspring with them in case of invasion on that unguarded coastline. The Church Park Convent School was persuaded to open its doors to them and their education was taken on by strict Irish Nuns. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, a well known artist and musician was engaged to foster his talents for Art. This lit the fuse that was to set him on course for his future career and generated an enthusiasm for the theatre.

Having been repatriated to England in 1947 the family returned to their home at Sidoup in Kent. His education was completed at the local Grammar School and Art School. He then went on to Teacher Training in Swansea before National Service in the R.A.F. There followed a teaching post in North Yorkshire where he was ‘Head of Art’ for thirty six years and where he and his wife, also a teacher, built their home and raised two delightful daughters.

The troubled times of war-torn Britain having passed him by, he can look back on a carefree and colourful childhood. Additionally, discovering the British Isles at seventeen on his bicycle was an adventure only to be surpassed later, traveling in both the Old World and the New with his wife and family.  Amateur theatricals and his painting and drawing continued into his retirement, as did creative writing.