To Be Fair follows a young gay man living in Italy who, after a bad breakup, goes on a self-destructive path until a teenage boy brings him back from the brink of disaster. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

It is inspired by certain people I have known, and also in parts of my own life as a young illegal immigrant in Spain. They tell you to write what you know, but making it about myself is still too painful almost 30 years on. So instead, I chose to set the novel in Italy, where the conditions are very similar, and from a child refugee narrative instead, which I thought readers would naturally feel more drawn to. And this was long before the Ukraine refugee crisis had even started, which makes it a lot more relevant perhaps.

What things do you find interesting about the human condition that makes for great fiction?

I find it strange how we tend to treat others in ways that we don’t like being treated ourselves. An example of this is when James complains about Berndt, although he is doing exactly the same things to Bogdan. Also, like my sister always says, that we expect people to love us a certain way, like imposing on them conditions, when we should be accepting and feeling grateful for whatever kind of love they give us. We shouldn’t be basing our self-esteem and happiness in other people’s opinions and our relationships with them.

What themes were important for you to explore in this book?

I definitely wanted to bring a refugee story to the table, because I think they need to be more represented in the media. All that we hear from the press is that they come from scary parts of the world to take our ´things’. But what people don’t realise is that they are not the enemy. I also hoped to make the case for LGBTQ rights, which are still not guaranteed in a lot of places, and to remind people who lived through the 80’s and 90’s like myself how hard things could be back then, and that we have to continue fighting, not only to spread them to other cultures, but also to ensure that they are not taken back with the rise of right wing parties worldwide.

When will book two be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?

I actually wrote book 2 first, but one of my early beta readers suggested that a prequel would be an interesting thing to write. It begins 9 years later with Bogdan and James navigating new life challenges that threaten what they thought was a stable relationship. I really enjoyed writing this novel because it sees Bogdan returning to Croatia to find his family, and James having some interesting, heartfelt conversations with his eldest niece Holly who is by then 12. Anyone who loves travelling, children and pets will find it very heartwarming to read.

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In the autumn of 1997, Bogdan is a teenage Yugoslavian refugee who fled his country at just eleven to claim asylum in Italy. He does not know the fate of his family, so he mainly relies on his old school friend Alessia, whose father employs him during the summer, and her boyfriend Guido, who is also his social worker.

A regular at the Caffe Fratelli where Bogdan works, James has lived in Italy for a couple of years escaping family problems after dropping out of university. He works as a cruise crew member, spending his time in between contracts sofa surfing at Guido’s, who grew up in James’ native Bristol.

After breaking up with his lover, James goes on a path of self-destruction neglecting his health. Bogdan tries to help him, and they begin an on-off relationship with disastrous consequences. Unable to let go despite knowing that James doesn´t take him seriously, Bogdan decides to travel to England with James to help him save the family business when his father becomes sick.

But when the authorities come to deport Bogdan for overstaying his visitor visa, will James rise to the challenge of saving the boy who risked everything to be with him?
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