WHY I WROTE ‘LTDHYH’ PART 3

At the same time, I read a book that was to change my life, The Moor’s Last Stand by Elizabeth Drayson. It tells the story of Boabdil the last ruler of Granada, a story to quote the blurb ‘of intrigue, treachery, cruelty, bravery and tragedy.’ His defeat at the hands of Isabella and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs, has ‘reverberated powerfully down the centuries.’ Indeed it has. This book is not only an excellent introduction to the last days of Muslim Spain, but it was also the inspiration for my novel. I realised I just had to write about Boabdil and try to imagine what might have happened under other circumstances and more so, through my protagonist, Lucy E Hawksmoor.
There are flashbacks to set the scene, though most of the story is set in the 21st century. I wanted to reflect how there are people in politics today in Spain who want to enact a new Reconquista – forcing out those the far right see as non-Spanish, including Muslims, Jews, homosexuals, gypsies as well as limiting or preventing freedoms from abortion to gay marriage.

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