Hotel Arcadia follows two very different people, from very different worlds, brought together by a terrorist siege of a luxury hotel. Sam is a war photographer staying at the hotel who copes by reverting to what she does best – taking photographs of an unfolding crisis. Abhi, the hotel manager, is simply trying to keep as many people alive and safe as possible.
I began the novel because I realised that while we hear and talk about terrorism a lot, much of our news tends to focus on the bad guys (terrorists) and the good guys (cops or soldiers). We don’t hear enough about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances and do extraordinary things. I wanted to explore how humans not only survive in the most horrific circumstances but care for each other. It’s not a story about the horrors of our world but rather the human ability to overcome it. It really is a book about finding love, courage, and hope in ourselves and each other.
Beyond that I wanted to reflect on the complicated nature of violence and how we perceive it. I have been researching and analysing political violence since university. I was a journalist in the 1990s, and closely followed both groups labelled terrorists as well as state-backed terrorism in various parts of the world. I realised that nuanced thinking of political violence was lost after 9/11 when the US – and many other governments across the world – realised they could simplify the definition and narratives for their own purposes. Much of this research and analysis went into shaping the novel.
However, stories seem to have their own timescale and I believe that they choose what form they will take. My skill as a writer often doesn’t match up to my ambition, so I have to wait till I get the requisite expertise to write the story I want. So I carried the story within me for years, before cracking it.
I always re-read Dante’s Inferno when I am stuck creatively and found my inspiration while reading the story of Paolo and Francesca who are in hell and punished by desiring each other without consummation for all eternity. For me, this unflinching eternal love seems more of a gift than a punishment and that became my starting point. During the course of the novel, Sam and Abhi develop an intimacy with each other that they don’t have with anyone else.
Structuring my novel was an unusual challenge because I wanted to include the oppressive stretches of boredom that mark a siege. Focussing on Sam and Abhi’s growing relationship helped me construct the way spurts of violence are intertwined with dread, tedium, and finally absolute bone-weariness. This also allowed me to vary the pace, especially as no siege unfolds entirely in a wild adrenalin rush.
Finally, Hotel Arcadia is a homage to the writers I grew up reading and whose work informs my own, especially Alistair Maclean, Jack Higgins, Len Deighton, John Le Carre and Graham Greene.
HOTEL ARCADIA by Sunny Singh is published by Magpie, an imprint of Oneworld on 21 March, paperback £9.99.
