It's my turn on the BlogTour The Olive Grove by Eva Glyn. The Olive Grove will be published by One More Chapter in ebook and audiobook on 3rd September and in paperback on 25th November.
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.
Bibliography: The Missing Pieces of Us (One More Chapter, 2021), The Olive Grove (One More Chapter, 2021)
Follow @JaneCable on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Visit evaglynauthor.com
About the book
An English woman searching for a different future. A man desperate to escape his war-ravaged past. Can these two find what they are looking for on the beautiful Croatian island of Korčula?
Antonia Butler is on the brink of a life-changing decision and a job advert looking for a multilingual housekeeper at a beautifully renovated Croatian farmhouse, Vila Maslina, is one she can’t ignore.
Arriving on the tiny picturesque island of Korčula, Antonia feels a spark of hope for the first time in a long time. This is a chance to leave the past behind.
But this island, and its inhabitants, have secrets of their own and a not-too-distant past steeped in tragedy and war. None more so than Vila Maslina’s enigmatic owner Damir Maric. A young man with nothing to lose but everything to gain…
Antonia throws all her eggs into one basket to embark on a risky new venture. She doesn't expect to encounter a man with vision who is also someone burdened by the past - to the point of shutting down at times.
Kudos to Glyn for weaving a tragedy of the 20th century into this contemporary read, which tends to be glossed over and buried beneath the rubble of so many other atrocities and tragic events. Make no mistake this was a war of cruelty and proof of the base nature of the human species. It also changed the landscape of Yugoslavia forever.
The author makes a valid and interesting point during the story about the way people who live in war-torn countries or places that are frequently targets of violence and/or terrorism - they become almost desensitized to the violence. They go about their days as if everything is normal, whilst often being eaten alive by inner fear, anxiety and PTSD.
Saying that, I think the aforementioned was at the core of this story and the fact the factions still exhibited hatred and blame towards each other after the end of the conflict, hence the decision made by the surrogate mother figure in this story. It's a story about having belief in yourself and following your dreams, however it is also an important reminder of events that should never have happened and the world should have intervened in properly.
It may have a serious undertone, but the story also does due diligence to the beautiful country and surroundings. Simultaneously it's also a tale of two people helping each other to grow, evolve and discover the world they have each kept at a distance in their own way.
Buy The Olive Grove at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher : One More Chapter pub date 3 Sept. 2021. Buy at Amazon com.
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