Terrorism in the seventeenth century

“I promise I won’t leave you, Nadine. You’re my child and I love you. You mean everything to me.”

John never forgot these words. He never forgot his promise.

The above quote comes from the the first chapter of my debut novel, The Diamond City.

My novel is inspired by a real event. It was pre-dawn, after 2.00am on 20 June, 1631 when Barbary Pirates disembarked on the shingle beach, with the sole aim of kidnapping its terrorised inhabitants. Pirates hacked open doors and set thatch alight, awaking the sleeping villagers and forcing them from their beds, restraining them and pulling them by ropes towards the awaiting boats. 107 people - men, women and children - found themselves on pirate ships bound for Algiers.

The best stories explore the human condition. The fact that you can’t take things for granted. Lives can change forever in an instant. The answers aren’t simple. There’s no black and white.