Why did you decide to write this novel? What was your inspiration?

I was in Italy, spending time with an American friend who was married into a wealthy Italian family. My friend had marital difficulties and we talked about them a lot. To my own surprise, I kept trying to explain her husband's behaviour to her. That's because Italians are very similar to Indians from Trinidad - the same mixture of a modern consciousness with commitment to older cultural norms involving very strong relationships with the wider family. My friend is very much like me - a woman of the modern age who believes her life is her own to live as she decides. Her husband's behaviour reminds me of that of my brothers, my brothers-in-law, many decent men I know from Trinidad. Like Heaven grew out of these discussions - of me trying to explain the conflicts within a man caught by the need to fulfil his wife's desire for an independent existence informed by modern concepts of individual identity, and his responsibilities to the wider family and his heritage.

At the same time, I was reading Marguerite Youcenar's 'Memoirs of Hadrian' and was struck by her daring, not just in writing a novel with a male narrative voice, but in the voice of one of the greatest of Roman emperors, a man who had the power to shape the world that existed at that time. All these concerns came together in the writing of Like Heaven. Its structure is heavily based on Memoirs of Hadrian. I wanted to write a book about someone who creates an empire, is a leader and something of a social visionary, but who is undone by love.

Like Heaven addresses ideas of race and cross-cultural issues. How have these affected your own life?

You can't come from Trinidad and not be affected by cross-cultural issues. In fact, I set the novel in what is called 'The Croissee', the crossroads where people of all races pass to get to the city centre. I have always been part of the 'melting pot' of modern society, even now, even outside Trinidad, where my closest friends come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Growing up in urban Trinidad was indeed living in a situation where the edges of cultural practice melted into each other. It was a highly dynamic social situation, one where cultural change was taking place daily in front of your eyes.

As an adult, I worked on a television series, a cultural magazine programme called Gayelle, in which we showcased all the different strands of culture in Trinidad. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.

How have the events in your own life affected the plot of your novel?

Well, my family was involved in small business, so I know that milieu well. I also know from personal experience that building a business doesn't mean you have to be exploitative and grasping. Both my father and my brother-in-law were deeply involved in the lives of their employees; their employees were part of their families. As a result, my father was spectacularly successful in business. But he also faced problems - and the troubles Ved has with his brother reflect those my father had with his own brother and the rest of his family.

The whole situation of arranged marriage is taken, word for word, from my own experience of being married off at age 19. Anji is completely based on me - or on my image of myself at that age. Her mother is based on my own. Her whole family is based on my own. A friend of mine who read the book in manuscript said she found Anji irritating, which caused me to laugh, because I think it reflects my own awareness of how silly I was at that age (and probably now as well, because one really hardly changes).

Why did you choose to write a male narrator?

It just happened like that. I had once tried to write a male narrator in a short story as an experiment, to see if I could do it. That was a very fulfilling experience. It was a love story, full of sexual desire, and I always said afterwards I got a chance to fall in love twice in the course of writing that story - first, through writing the narrator falling in love with a woman, and then going over the story and ensuring that the reader could feel the woman falling in love with him. After that, I never thought about whether it was going to be a male or female narrator when I began a short story. It was just whoever was the best person to tell the story, whose consciousness would be most interesting, contain the most development.

I made it first person because that's more fun for me, to try and explore a consciousness that is not like my own. I learn more, explore more, enjoy the discoveries more.

You give a vivid portrayal of a male psyche through your main character, Ved. How did you manage to write such a clear depiction of a man?

I don't know. I just tried. Every time I thought I might be lapsing, I had Ved look at breasts. I understand men are very susceptible to breasts, so when in doubt, put in breasts. I myself don't look at breasts, so I consciously kept in mind the male sensitivity to breasts.

There were only two places where I encountered problems. The first was when Anji put her arms around Ved for the first time and wouldn't let him go. Suddenly, I thought, 'does he have an erection?' And I didn't know. And I couldn't proceed until I knew what he was feeling. I was in a hotel in the Dominican Republic writing, and couldn't ask anyone I knew. So I went and knocked on the door of two Dutch guys I had met there, and asked them the question. The results were hilarious. Later, I also had a moment of self-doubt when Ved is on his honeymoon and he comes to a very surprising conclusion (surprising to me, anyway). I called an old friend in Florida and discussed it with him and read him the passage that had appeared on the page, and he confirmed that it was legitimate.

What is the significance of your appearance as a character at the end of the novel?

That's just me playing the fool. Making a cameo appearance like Hitchcock. I needed a journalist with a certain mindset, and thought, 'why not myself'? I put in my own name, thinking maybe my editor, Paul, would object and I could take it out. But he didn't, so I left it in.

Why did you decide to title your novel Like Heaven?

Well, a rich, good-looking guy on a very rich Caribbean island is in the closest thing to heaven that we can imagine, isn't he? The circumstances of Trinidad create the potential for a heavenly life - but it doesn't turn out that way.

You grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, but now live in Amsterdam. Do you miss the Caribbean and would you ever consider living there again?

Every winter I collect travel brochures with beaches, blue sea, palm trees… I dream and dream of being there. I love that landscape. I have gained a lot from living in other parts of the world, and I am very grateful to Holland for giving me the opportunity to live in a different way and have different experiences. I wish I could re-pay this country for allowing me to be more free than I could be in Trinidad. I am a Dutch citizen and that means a lot to me. But perhaps, like many Dutch people, I might need to be in a warmer place in my old age.