Amin Maalouf
In an interview, Tarr stated that she became interested in the period of the Crusades after hearing the 1971 record album, "Music of the Crusades" by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. This inspired her to write her novel set in the period of the Crusades, "Alamut". Tarr consulted the history books "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" by Amin Maalouf and "" by Bernard Lewis, as part of her research for "Alamut".