Bloom follows an international team of scientists as they investigate a mysterious and rapidly spreading harmful algal bloom. Where did the idea behind this novel come from? 

Being a scientist — a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology — I have an enormous curiosity and respect for Nature. The idea for Bloom came to me when I personally noticed how warm the Mediterranean Sea was becoming, and I began to think about what consequences this could have on the delicate mechanisms that regulate the food chain and the balance of marine species

How did you balance scientific accuracy with the pacing and suspense needed for an ecological thriller?

I wanted the science in Bloom to be genuinely accurate, not decorative. The challenge was pacing it so the reader feels the mechanism of the threat — a mutated strain of Alexandrium catenella — without turning the narrative into a lecture. I also cared deeply about showing the power of Nature and its unpredictability, adding catastrophic elements that would bring a thrilling effect to the story. I tried to embed the science inside moments of discovery for the characters themselves: Marco and his team don’t explain the science to the reader, they’re racing to understand it in real time, under pressure

The novel moves across several European countries. What challenges did you face in creating a crisis that feels international rather than confined to one location?

Coordinating this crisis through a team of scientists working with the EU was a way to make the story feel real. The challenge, however, was figuring out how such issues are actually handled by the EU as an institution — I could only hypothesize how this would unfold. That’s the element that comes from my imagination and deduction, not from direct knowledge.

If readers finish Bloom with one question about the future of our oceans, what would you like that question to be? 

I’d want them to ask: what other disruptions should we expect from Mother Nature in response to this sudden global warming, beyond the changes we already call “climate change”? Which animal species will rise in a specific location, and which will fall? How will these shifts affect the whole ecosystem? And most importantly — how will humans adapt to these changes?