Why did you choose this protagonist for your novel?

Maybe it shows me.

It's very difficult to answer such a question.

I think it's probably impossible.

I cannot speak eloquently about the context in which she lives, but I think I can manage to say a few words about how certain obsessions are turned into, for want of a better word, art or literature in this case.

Many years ago, I read an essay by Caroline Moorhead, Human Cargo, in which she discusses various forms of migration, forced or unforced.

And I think you could say without really exaggerating that the most prominent, deplorably prominent human experience in the last century or so has been migration from deportation all the way over to going abroad because of love or work.

Aris, what do you think about the concept of sort of civilization suffering from not welcoming strangers? Well, I