In a Kingdom by the Sea
About the book
When I stepped off the plane in Karachi and emerged from the chaotic airport into a world tinged in an orange glow, I had no idea what lay ahead. Despite the patrolling soldiers with guns I felt an immediate visceral pull, as if I was standing on the edge of a still photo about to plunge into a world both unknown and familiar.
I wrote IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA whilst I was living in Karachi. I was there almost by chance and despite the restrictions of movement for a westerner in this unpredictable city it was an amazing experience. I made lasting friends who whisked me away to pink palaces and I visited the raw beauty of the Kashmir mountains.
A story had been weaving around my mind for some time, but I could not find a way in. I would write early in the mornings in a walled garden by the hotel swimming pool in the shade of trees. Most days I had the garden completely to myself, with only the chipmunks and hovering kites, until late afternoons.
This is when I had the idea of Gabby, my main character, receiving shocking news from home as she sat on her own by a swimming pool in Karachi. Without her work or support system of friends or family she would only have her husband to turn to. But what if he was not the husband and father, she thought she knew? What if she began to realise that she was isolated in a foreign city for all the wrong reasons? It would be her Pakistani friends in this dangerous city she would turn to…
IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA is a memory, a homage to my love affair with Pakistan and the wonderful friends I made.
Published by Harper Collins Publishers Ltd
ISBN 978-00082451910