This week, I am delighted to welcome Eva Glyn to tell us about the setting of her novel, The Olive Grove … an island full of secrets, a summer to discover them all. Over to you, Eva …
Ah, Korcula, Korcula. A gem of an island on the Dalmatian coast, almost close enough to reach out and touch the mainland, and yet with a wild beauty all of its own. Crystal seas, white pebble beaches, holm oaks and stone pines clinging to rocky outcrops… and vineyards… and olive groves. Of course, olive groves.
When I decided to set a book in Croatia I didn’t at first link it with olives, even though it is now published as The Olive Grove. What I wanted to write was a story that brought home the utter awfulness of a child living through a war; what it meant and how it felt. And how they looked back on it afterwards. It would be based on a story I heard from our tour director, Darko Barisic, just days after our visit to Korcula. He had lived through the Bosnian war in Mostar and was able to tell us about the good times and the bad.
And, of course, in any novel there must be dark and light. In fact Korcula was originally named by the Greeks as Korkyra Melaina, a reference to the black trees that covered it almost to the water’s edge. The centre of the island is still thickly forested in places, but around its coastline it sparkles and dazzles like nowhere else I know.
My character Antonia escapes from a toxic relationship to the island to work in Damir’s boutique hotel, Vila Maslina. And maslina is Croatian for olive, so this is where the connection began. And this is the house:
At first glance there was nothing special about Vila Maslina. In fact, it was quite an ordinary-looking farmhouse: two storeys in some places, three in others, with an irregular red tiled roof. But there was something a little different about it, and after a few moments she realised it was because the outside was painted not in the usual white, but with something akin to a paler version of Farrow & Ball’s Green Ground. It softened it somehow, blending it with the olive trees surrounding it. There was no other property in sight, but enlarging the picture on her screen Antonia could see a patchwork of vineyards behind it, rising to meet dark wooded hills…
…A heavy pine door in need of some TLC swung open and Antonia found herself in an elegant living room. The centrepiece was a massive fireplace with a mantelshelf carved from brilliant white stone; above it was an abstract painting in swirls of blue, instantly evoking the sea. The walls were the colour of the palest possible sky and swags of white muslin framed the windows. Bleached pine floors; low, squashy sofas; mismatched antique occasional tables – Antonia could almost smell the beeswax – this room was perfection.
Vila Maslina has been Damir’s home since he was a small boy, where he came to live with his aunt to escape his wartime past. But now that past is finding him again and it seems there is nowhere he can run to.
I hope The Olive Grove whisks readers away to beautiful Korcula, to live in Antonia and Damir’s world as they try to help each other to heal, and early reviews have made me hopeful that is the case:
“An extraordinary read. I really did feel as though I was part of the story myself.” Rubie
“A beautifully written book that made me want to visit Korcula.” Jill
“An excellent job of contrasting the idyllic setting with the horrors that took place decades earlier.” Claire
The Olive Grove was published by One More Chapter as an ebook on 3rdSeptember with paperback and audiobook to follow in November. For stockist information visit here.
Thank you so much for the wonderful post, Eva. The Olive Grove has landed on my kindle and I am looking forward to reading it. xx
About the Author:
Eva Glyn writes emotional women’s fiction inspired by beautiful places and the stories they hide. She loves to travel, but finds inspiration can strike just as well at home or abroad.
She cut her teeth on just about every kind of writing (radio journalism, advertising copy, PR, and even freelance cricket reporting) before finally completing a full length novel in her forties. Four lengthy and completely unpublishable tomes later she found herself sitting on an enormous polystyrene book under the TV lights of the Alan Titchmarsh Show as a finalist in the People’s Novelist competition sponsored by Harper Collins. Although losing out to a far better writer, the positive feedback from the judges gave her the confidence to pursue her dreams.
Eva lives in Cornwall, although she considers herself Welsh, and has been lucky enough to have been married to the love of her life for twenty-five years. She also writes as Jane Cable.
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