The search for the next 'big thing' in the literary world is a dangerous business, but we think we may just have found him in Nick Stone.

His childhood gave him enough material for a score of novels. He was born in Cambridge to a Haitian mother and a British father, the historian Norman Stone. He spent his early years in Haiti, moving back to Britain aged five. His acclaimed debut, Mr Clarinet, which has been compared with Graham Greene's The Comedians, is published by Penguin this month and he has a second book under way.

His mother's family, the Aubrys, is one of the most established in Haiti and intimately involved in its politics. Several relatives worked for Papa Doc Duvalier, whom Stone describes as 'the Saddam Hussein of the Caribbean'. 'My great-aunt was his secretary and my great-uncle was his finance minister,' he said.

Stone's Haitian roots remain his principal inspiration. Mr Clarinet is a thriller set on the island, which tackles the growing problem of child kidnapping. 'I would have been a writer even if I had never lived there - I used to watch my dad type as a kid, with his cigarette and his mug of tea. He was my big hero,' he said. 'But I have been conscious that people aren't writing about Haiti and the mess the Americans have made of it.'