An old family photograph inspired teacher Paul Roberts to write a story based on the life of his uncle, who was a tea planter in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Most of the book is set on the island, despite the fact that the author has never been there.

Paul, 56, who teaches at Wheatley Park, said: "My uncle was in the Army and when he left, like a lot of demobbed Army officers, he looked for a job with a foreign company of a colonial organisation which would take him abroad again. He was offered a job with a company that ran plantations in the Far East, around the time of independence, in 1948.

"In the 1960s, when they nationalised the tea plantations, he had to leave and they were not allowed to take any assets out of the country, and he arrived back in London with very little.

"The book starts with the main character, Fraser, locked in a security van, and in fact my uncle got a job with Securicor when he came back. That was why I wanted to write this story, because I thought that was very sad. The thing that really triggered the personal side of it was this family story - that my uncle hadn't really taken any interest in the procession of young women who were produced for him to marry."

Like Paul's uncle, Fraser also spurns the marriageable ladies produced by his mother, but forges a relationship with a local woman. He has already attracted criticism from fellow expatriates for fraternising with 'the natives', while others are manoeuvring for power, against a background of mounting terrorist attacks and 'disappearances'.

The author didn't feel hampered by the fact that he hadn't visited Sri Lanka, particularly since the book is set in the past, so that the atmosphere had to be evoked after thorough research. "In a way it helped that I hadn't been there. I think if I had, I would have been overwhelmed." While he found it possible to imagine the place, he was conscious that he had to be especially careful with research.

"We were going to visit Sri Lanka last summer, but it didn't quite work out. I would love to have gone there and find my uncle's estate. It's a question of time and opportunity."

In trepidation, he gave the book to his mother. "When I gave the book to my mother I said 'This is just made up, but the situation is the same'.

"I was concerned that she would think that I was lying about her brother. When you start writing, you use anything that will make sense of the story.

"If I read it now, I wouldn't recognise my uncle at all in what I have written. Everything else that is in the book is invented or researched. For example, the group of young men who go and terrorise people in Prague to extort money from them - that was something I read about. I didn't know anything about tea - that all came from research - but I do now. The rest of the story is just invention, but based on things that have happened. There was a bomb in Colombo yesterday, for instance, sadly."

He sent the book to 12 agents, but there was no interest, so he has published it himself. He said: "I have sold about 75 copies off my own bat, mostly to friends, so I have had plenty of feedback. The agents said that there were already enough books about 'this sort of thing' - there was a post-colonial phase with Paul Scott and the Jewel In the Crown. So it wasn't seen to be marketable, but that was the story I had to tell so I just pressed on with it. I think people liked the rebel character, Pavesh, because he has this moral dilemma. He comes across some thugs and wonders if he is just like them." It took two years to write and research - time which was in short supply for Mr Roberts, who leads a busy life. As well as his senior teaching role, he has competed in the Isle of Wight sailing race and produced Greek storytelling events in Oxford. For ten years he was head of English at Bicester Community College, but left teaching in 1997 and returned in 1999. "I try to write on Sunday mornings, but it is only in the holidays that I can get a good run at it."

Having taken up writing four years ago at the age of 52, Mr Roberts feels he has found his voice. "I have loved doing it. It is something that is a genuine pleasure. For years as an English teacher you read about authors who say their characters just walked on to the page and I didn't believe it. But the terrorist, Pavesh, just walked into the story. It has been like opening a door into myself that hadn't been opened before."

His next book - provisonally entitiled Two Wheels Good - is completely different. "It's about a group of language school teachers who go cycling in Italy." And yes, he has been to Italy...

Khaparu is available from the Book House, Summertown.