"The biggest one by far was the trip to the Cape Coast Castle. ... It was while on this tour of the castle that I started to hear details about the slave trade that I had never considered before and had never heard before, primarily the fact that the British soldiers who used to live and work in the castle would sometimes marry the local women. ... It's the only time I think, in my writing life that I've felt anything akin to like a stroke of inspiration, like it felt so visceral that I wanted to spend more time thinking about this place and writing about this place."