Priya Basil, author of Ishq and Mushq talks to theasianwriter about her new novel The Obscure Logic of the Heart…

Click here to read the interview in full, below is a sneaky peek….

Firstly I have to congratulate you on your second novel. Your style’s grown and developed and you’ve tackled some really difficult issues with The Obscure Logic of the Heart. Can you talk us through what was different, in a writing sense, second time around?

The satisfactions and struggles of the creative process were identical to those I experienced the first time around: the urge to write a great and lasting story was accompanied by the exact same doubts about failure. The writing itself was easier in some technical respects because of things that I’d become aware of while editing the first book.

The deep entanglement of a corrupt government and illegal arms trade juxtaposed the lovers’ own dilemmas was a powerful way to weave the story. I really felt like I was being educated the whole time I was reading. What inspired you to explore this in your novel and what research went in to make the plot plausible?

I always knew that the main character, Lina, would have a strong impulse to ‘save the world’, which would clash with the private realities of her own life. During the early stages of writing, the problem of piracy in the Indian Ocean, along the coast of Somalia, made lots of headlines. One particular incident, about a ship carrying arms, caught my attention because of Kenya’s alleged involvement in the procurement of those weapons. I began to read up about arms dealing, and was shocked by the scale of the trade, especially the illegal aspect of it. I immediately felt that I wanted to support all efforts to curb this trade and make it more accountable, and the best way for me to do that was through my writing. I am now also a supporter of the Control Arms Campaign, a global civil society alliance campaigning for an Arms Trade Treaty that will protect lives.