🇬🇧Michael Schroder

I grew up in the British Unification community. My childhood memories were formed here — the workshops at Cleeve House, the church family, the terrace out back where we used to jump. This is the country that gave me my spiritual foundation.

I married a Japanese girl I had never met before when I was twenty years old. My main motivation for doing so was twofold: my deep personal relationship with Father, and my respect and admiration for my own parents' marriage.

I spent seven years in Japan, and now nearly three years in Portugal. Living abroad has rounded out my character and forced me to grow in ways I was never expecting to — even if it left gaps in my timeline back in the UK that can't quite be filled.

Coming home after almost ten years, I've had to accept that the people, the smells, the feelings will not all feel the same as they once did. And why would they? These are the questions I keep returning to in my writing.