M.M. Kaye was born in India and grew up there. After school in England she returned to India and lived there throughout her early married life.

Her best selling novels of India include THE FAR PAVILIONS, SHADOW OF THE MOON and TRADE WIND. She has also written crime novels, children's books (which she also illustrated) and three volumes of memoirs under the overall title SHARE OF SUMMER. They are: SUN IN THE MORNING, GOLDEN AFTERNOON and ENCHANTED EVENING.

She died in January 2004.

In this third volume of Kaye's autobiography, we see her torn away from her beloved India to set up home in China where she discovers the giddy pleasure of independence gained through the success of her painting.