Sonny, Gogo, Tobo, And Their Adventures

About the Book

These stories are about a boy who dared to make friends with someone who was different. He traveled to his friend’s country through the night on the back of an owl and gained many more close friends in a land, which no one can reach unless taken by the hand of one of its inhabitants. They are stories of adventure and the power of friendship.

About the Author

I was born in Bradford U.K. in 1938 and grew up during the War and post-War period. I trained as a speech therapist and practised from 1959 to 1962. In 1962 I joined College of Ascension, Selly Oak, Birmingham, to do a two-year theological course. I then sailed for India in September 1964 and went to live in Delhi. There I stayed in a residential home for women workers of the Anglican Diocese of Delhi, working at St. James Church in old Delhi. I was a member of St. Stephen's Community for twelve years. This provided mutual spiritual and emotional support for women church workers, and we observed certain rules of life such as simpicity, inner silence, and regular services in our chapel. From 1974 to 1976 I served in the Diocese of Rajasthan in Ajmer. In 1977 I married Salman Hashmi of the Muslim community. We had a son and a daughter. I had always taken an interest in spritual matters, and visited the Sisters of the enclosed Community of the Incarnation in Oxford. In India I studied the Upanishads, which is one of the books of the Vedanta, which teaches advaita, or non-duality. I was associated with a Hindu-Christian group which sought to find the ways in which the faith of the Vedanta and the Christian faith could be found to converge. In 2004 my husband died and I returned to England. Here I explored the spirituality of the New Age movement and learnt methods of meditation from New Age books. Formerly I had observed mainly the way taught in the Cloud of Unknowing. A Father of the Community of the Resurrection had also introduced me to the method of St. Ignateous Loyola. This entailed visualisation, as did the New Age methods. As a result of this type of meditation I had the experiences described in my Spiritual Diary. I also found that children's books can teach profound truths through the activities and conversation of children's characters. This was my inspiration for the stories I wrote for children between the ages of seven and nine. The Sonny stories depict a civilisation which lives in harmony and mutual co-operation. Disasters occur sometimes but a little ingenuity and enterprise can overcome the problems we face. The Merriol stories discuss the ways in which the bad habits and attitudes of human beings can damage our planet. They show that people have choices in the way they live. In each story there is a dilemma which the children are able to solve. The stories are meant to show that we are not just puppets. We have choices which can affect the world in which we live.