Yong Pease is Chinese, and was born and brought up in Malaysia
Her heroine, Jen, is a combination of six people although Yong agrees there is much of herself in Jen. Yong, too, is a spirited person who fought against tradition and broke certain taboos by firstly marrying an Englishman then subsequently getting divorced.
Yong came to London in December 1970 on a one way-ticket. She applied to
train as a nurse here and much to her surprise she was accepted on her second
attempt.
She was educated in a convent school because her mother believed the British to
be a clever nation. By sending her to a school run by Irish nuns she hoped that
some of cleverness would rub off! Yong married an Englishman when she moved to
the UK but is now divorced. She has two grown-up children and currently resides
in Hampshire, near the sea and still works as a nurse as well as writing.