Plunder with Intent is a beautiful story of love, justice and tragedy about the family of a 19th Century English aristocrat who steals a line of beautiful marble statues (the Parthenon or Elgin marbles) from their rightful home in Greece. The novel follows the story of the statues from their creation in 5th Century BC to present day; friendships, love affairs and destines are shaped by people’s interaction to the statues.
After reading this short introduction I was really curious about Plunder with Intent and sent a few questions to author J.E. D’Este Clark to discover more. Here are her answers.
When and how
did you fall in love with the Classical world and all-things-Greek?
My
love affair with the Classical world began when I was a child. Always asking
‘why’ from the age of eight, lead me to read the classics and study the great
Greek philosophers. If you want to understand yourself there is no better
place to start than with Plato, Aristotle, and of course my favourite,
Socrates, who features throughout Plunder
with Intent. Homer’s Odyssey was
my next big love, and I read it three times while researching my novel.
Reading it as a young person brought the ancient wisdom even closer and
has stayed with me ever since. I fell in love with classical architecture while
studying history of art and design at university. Those massive Doric
columns enchanted me. There was, of course, a more romantic reason for my
passion for the Classical world, but perhaps I’ll keep him a secret…