How do you write a novel? Slowly and with passion. In 1997 my wife and I had been teaching in Europe for fourteen years and, although we loved life on the Continent, we had started casting about for a new adventure, preferably one that included our passion for sailing. As luck would have it, a new school system was being opened on the island of Guahan (Guam), America's outpost in the far Pacific, and we were offered jobs. I had been writing for many years and some of my short stories had recen...