Don’t worry I’m not trying to sell it to you, I haven’t finished writing it yet. But it’s been on my mind this week. Before October 7th I was working on my first novel. A historical drama based on a true story, set in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem during the crusades. Following the life of Queen Maria Komnene, sent to marry the King of Jerusalem aged 13, I wanted to use this incredible sweeping epic of a story to talk about issues of identity and belonging in the holy land. I wanted to talk about middle eastern experience and agency during this period that’s only ever looked at through either Arab or European eyes. I wanted to talk about the huge spiritual importance of this land to so many people, and the complexities involved in making this holy place a home, with all the grim realities of living in a perpetual war zone, and the day-to-day ordinariness that still prevails. How Jerusalem even 1000 years ago was a holy place, a place full of tourists and ordinary people living ordinary lives, and a place of high tension and occasional horrific bloodshed.
Ugh I’m crap on Substack. I wrote a whole comment and then tried to edit a misspelled word and deleted the whole comment. 🤦🏻♀️
Loved this piece and subscribed. I think there is a whole novel on this piece tbh. A writer writing about medieval Jerusalem post 7/10, with all the rhymes and intersections to writer grapples with. (Obviously I am no writer and this idea is probs super wanky but there ya go 😂). If there are typos in this I’m not editing coz I don’t want to act delete again
Ugh I’m crap on Substack. I wrote a whole comment and then tried to edit a misspelled word and deleted the whole comment. 🤦🏻♀️
Loved this piece and subscribed. I think there is a whole novel on this piece tbh. A writer writing about medieval Jerusalem post 7/10, with all the rhymes and intersections to writer grapples with. (Obviously I am no writer and this idea is probs super wanky but there ya go 😂). If there are typos in this I’m not editing coz I don’t want to act delete again
Hi! Thankyou and thankyou for subscribing! I actually love that idea, such an interesting perspective!