Nick Lake: Hi, this is Nick Lake and I am the author of In Darkness. I am really excited to tell you a little bit about how I came to write In Darkness and then read to you a short extract from the book.

In Darkness is the story of Shorty, who is a teenage boy from the slums of Site Soleil in Haiti. Who gets trapped under the rubble following the Haitian earthquake of 2010. The story is in essence about whether he is ever going to be dug out and whether he is ever going to be rescued. But also, because he's trapped there he begins to think about his past and to revisit some of the bad things that he has done.

The inspiration for the book, primarily, was the earthquake itself. And like so many people I was just horrified that this terrible humanitarian disaster had happened to a country that already had such a sad history.

The second part of the story is obviously Toussaint Louverture he was this utterly astonishing figure who led the slave rebellion. He completely turned around and became this man who reinvented himself as one of the greatest military leaders of all time. Very, sort of, unacknowledged. You know, he was this, kind of, black Spartacus who led this quite large army, defeated a very sophisticated French army and these British and Spanish troops as well. I always wanted to write something about him, but I never quite knew what that would be or how I would approach it.

I had this idea that the story of Toussaint Louverture and the story of Shorty were somehow linked and it finally came to me that there is a point in Toussaint's life where he is also trapped in the darkness. And so I was able to create this story where they almost have this kind of dialogue across time.

Now, I am going to read you the first page of the book.

I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help.

I am the quiet voice that you hope will not turn to silence, the voice you want to keep hearing 'cos it means someone is still alive. I am the voice calling for you to come and dig me out. I am the voice in the dark, asking you to unbury me, to bring me from the grave out into the light, like a zombie.

I am a killer and I have been killed, too, over and over; I am constantly being born. I have lost more things than I have found; I have destroyed more things than I have built. I have seen babies abandoned in the trash and I have seen the dead come back to life.

I first shot a man when I was twelve years old.

I have no name. There are no names in the darkness 'cos there is no one else, only me, and I already know who I am (I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help), and I have no questions for myself and no need to call upon myself for anything, except to remember.

I am alone.

And I am dying.