Resident shines light on romance in new novel

Patricia D’Arcy Laughlin is a born storyteller. Normally, the Trinidadian shares stories of exotic travels and life experiences, however, recently she has been telling a new story, one of love and power.

The 700-page novel “Sacrifice for a Kingdom” is a love story that also tackles unromantic topics such as history, equality and religion.

“I want the book to be entertaining, fun and contribute something of substance,” she says.

Laughlin grew up in Port de Spain, Trinidad, before she moved to England at 14 years old to attend boarding school. She returned home after finishing high school and planned to study fine art in London until she met her future husband, Peter, and fell in love.

Laughlin stayed in Trinidad, where she wrote poetry and painted.

In 1979, she and her family moved to Miami. Ten years later, they moved again — this time to Sarasota.

Laughlin writes in her office, a room flooded by natural light and filled with books on ancient civilizations and religion and dictionaries in multiple languages.

Laughlin says although the book took three years to write, the story is 40 years in the making.

Laughlin first put pen to paper in the late ’70s while at a spa retreat with her mother. With no access to a computer, Laughlin penned the first 10 pages by hand and didn’t revisit her work until 2010, when she had time.

The book’s storyline centers on the heroine, Elizabeth, and Prince Michael: two aristocrats who fall in love and find themselves in the middle of a power struggle of politics and religion. The book is both erotic and philosophic.

“I’m tackling a controversial issue with a love story,” Laughlin says of her unusual approach.

The love story was Laughlin’s favorite part to write. The hardest, Laughlin says, was Elizabeth’s speech challenging male authority in religion.

Laughlin says she’s glad she never shied away from telling the story she finds so important.

“I’m actually a private person, but as you get older you realize you don’t have to worry about what people think,” she says.