I'd fulfilled a lifelong ambition and moved to the county of Suffolk, in the southeast of England, the place of my forebears. My pension as a senior aircraft engineer, and my share of the house I shared with Barbara, just about ran to a broken down cottage four miles out of Ipswich. The place was still in the family, owned by an aunt Gwen, whom I barely knew and was related by marriage and no blood relation to me. It was...

Aunt Gwen’s life had changed, and it wasn’t just the amazingly satisfactory rekindling of her sex life. Sometimes momentous happenings just come out of the blue, this one certainly did. Her husband, Miles, had sat her down and announced he’d been offered a new post, one he was minded to accept. An opportunity had occurred to open a new Church school in Johannesburg. Miles had experience of missionary work before entering...