'The Cerebral Erotica Was Fun'

All your books are so different. What led you to this particular story?
It's difficult to say. I've always had a preoccupation with storytelling. In the earlier novels I explore stories through two very different people and worlds. So it was a logical move to turn now to a storyteller - and Scherezade is the mother of storytellers.

But your story is as much about Dunyazad, her sister...
Yes, that's true but...the only way I could've written about Scherezade was as a younger sister, as Dunyazad. I could only pay tribute to her as a silent accomplice, someone who followed, but of course had a less prodigious, less fulfilled life. And then, once you are Scherezade's sister, she can no longer be a myth. She has to be flesh and blood.