Theo Karagounis is the central protagonist of ‘The Ship of Stone’.. He’s a Roman (a native Greek of the Peloponnese) who has chosen to throw his lot in with the Frankish rulers of the Morea. When the story starts, his identification with the Franks is so complete that he can easily be mistaken for a native Frenchman and he’s proud that he dreams in French. However, as the story develops, things get a bit more complicated for our hero…

Theo didn’t start off as the central figure of ‘The Ship of Stone’. Michaelis Daimonoiannis was meant to be the hero. He may well emerge as such in future books in the series, and ‘The Ship of Stone’ remains centred on his own personal narrative. Theo just lurched into one early scene because I needed a soldier below the rank of knight and thought it might be interesting if he was a Roman. We know plenty of Romans served with the Franks.

Before I knew it, he was totally bossing the story. Which is just like him… Then, in the second full draft, undertaken with the guidance of amazing coach Anna Schechter, Theo came into his own as the dominant driver of the story. It became his story even more than it was Michaelis’ story, even if the Daimonoiannis narrative remains the essential framework.

There are two principal reasons for this, I think. Firstly, he is a bit wicked and that appeals to me! Secondly, he encapsulates a large part of the themes that drew me to this bit of history in the first place - complicated identities, mixed loyalties. Is he Roman, whatever? Or can he become a Frank? Is it really important? Could he be both?