Whenever I travel, I immerse myself in the place before I go. I don’t just read up on sites and hotels, I read fiction, particularly if it’s well-researched. The myths surrounding a location, and the fiction inspired by it, are things that bring a setting to life. Sometimes, the setting is a character who cannot be ignored. Such is the case with Love & Olives.
I found this novel through a search for “fiction Greece” at my local library, and it turns out, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. I breezed through it, partly because Jenna Evans Welch is an excellent storyteller, but also because she caught me in her net right from the start. I loved Olive Varanakis from page one when she shared the secret of her recurring drowning dreams, and I needed to know how her life would change. This YA book will appeal to teens, but also anyone who’s interested in the myth of Atlantis and the magical island of Santorini.
The quest to find Atlantis is window dressing to the real story of a seventeen-year-old girl who is given the opportunity to find herself and her lost father. Tragically, Nico Varanakis, left her and her mom when she was eight and no one ever explained why. Naturally, Olive took it personally. She’d spent hours helping her dad research Atlantis and suddenly he vanished. Present day Olive has reshaped herself as Liv. An amazing artist, she has a boyfriend about to graduate and attend Stanford. Dax wants her to join him, but Liv longs to go to Rhode Island School of Design (a real college.) When she receives a postcard from her long-lost father asking her to come to Santorini, she’s too angry at first to accept. But her mom talks her into going. (I have to say, I’m not enamored with Liv’s mom for keeping her dad’s secret for nine years, but when you’re setting up a story, conflict is as integral as mysteries and secrets. Nico is now creating a documentary for National Geographic about his lifelong search for Atlantis and he needs her help. Enter the B-plot, a young documentary filmmaker—Theo of the amazing eyelashes.
He was the kind of good-looking that doesn’t ever have to try to be good-looking. And he clearly was not trying. There was something infuriatingly careless about him, like he’d rolled out of bed and left the house without looking in a mirror (62).
The romantic subplot in this story is charming but the author never leaves us thinking this is just a romance. Theo and Liv lead us on an exciting tour while they film their documentary about Nico’s lifelong search for Atlantis. We even discover the secret that drives his obsession and the reason why he left Olive so long ago.
As always, I learned more from this fictional story—set on the island of Santorini and which I’m visiting for a brief moment in just a few weeks)—than any guide book. And it’s inspired me to dive into the salty Aegean Sea and explore Atlantis myself.
I can’t say Atlantis is something I’ve just stumbled upon through reading Love & Olives. It’s been circling my soul since I first heard Donovan spin the poetic tale in 1968 in his mystical Scottish whisper. Having memorized the lyrics, I could recite it along with him, my favourite lines being these:
“The antediluvian kings colonized the world. All the gods who play in the mythological dramas in all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis.”
Antediluvian is one of the juiciest words ever created, along with primordial and primeval, and refers to the time period before Noah built his ark to survive the biblical flood. The story originated with Plato, who supposedly heard it from the Egyptians. But I digress.
Things I loved about this book:
A Bird’s Eye View of Oia (pronounced EE-ah.) If you’ve never heard of Oia, it’s the iconic white clifftop city with the cobalt blue domes that appears in every guidebook that mentions Santorini. Liv’s father was born on Santorini and now lives in Oia with his partner, Ana. Theo is her son.
The Lost Bookstore of Atlantis. In the story, Nico built the bookstore for Ana because she’d always wanted one. It even has a hidden bedroom with twin beds where Liv bunks with Theo in a very chaste way. Fortunately, there is a real Atlantis Books, which is not in Oia, but on the cliffside of Firostefani, Santorini, at the base of the Nomikos Cultural Centre, and it happens to be very close to where we’re staying!
The Structure. There are 26 chapters and each begins with a piece from Liv detailing 1 of the 26 things her father left behind . . . “most of them were throwaways, but I kept them anyway” (487). She held onto them in a box through the many moves she made with her mother. If that doesn’t endear you to this narrator nothing will.
Visits to Sites. Theo and Liv film at various sites that I’m now excited to see. Akrotiri is a Bronze Age Minoan archaeological site. Similar to Pompei, Akrotiri was destroyed by earthquakes and a massive volcanic eruption sometime between 1620 and 1530 BC. Many artifacts are housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, but the 20-hectare site is open to the public. Are these remnants of Atlantis?
History & Philosophy. Plato (c. 427 – 348 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period. His teacher was Socrates and his student was Aristotle.
“In Timaeus Plato expounds the origin and system of the universe in a brilliantly imagined scheme of creation and divine and mortal characteristics; together with its companion piece Critias, the foundational text for the story of Atlantis, it is among Plato’s most enduring and influential dialogues.” —Oxford University Press
Plato’s Beach Clues to Atlantis. Plato writes that there were three different coloured beaches: one black, one white, and one red in the area of Atlantis. Do these beaches exist on Santorini? Yes, they do. Theo and Liv film at Kamari, a Black Beach created from volcanic material close to Fira. They also go to the White Beach and the Red Beach near Akrotiri. Liv’s impression: “Orangey-red cliffs stood tall and commanding before dropping abruptly to a narrow strip of beach that crumbled almost immediately into pristine turquoise surf, the color contrast so stark and startling that it made my eyes water” (365.)
The Open Air Cinema. Theo takes Liv to Cinekamari where they watch Some Like it Hot featuring Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag, along with Marilyn Monroe. This cinema actually exists near the black beach! How gorgeous is this venue?
I actually think we should be staying longer in Santorini. Or perhaps this is just an appetizer and I’ll be returning. This one little island (which is actually made up of five islands) has much to share.
Many thanks to Jenna Evans Welch for her wonderful introduction to Santorini. If you want more, Love & Olives is part of her “teen girls going abroad to find love” trilogy. Love & Gelato (set in Florence) and Love & Luck (set in Ireland) were New York Times best sellers and I can understand why. Methinks Miss Jenna knows what she’s doing.
Please no. This might well be my favourite Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery. Book number fifteen in a succession that spans twenty years of the characters’ lives, also reads as if it may be the last. The way things land between Dr. Ruth and DCI Nelson both romantically and professionally, leads them on a new trajectory and Griffiths confirms, it is the last book “for now.” I can’t imagine what it’s like for her to say goodbye to these characters.
When the last remains of Emily Pickering, a young Cambridge archaeology student who disappeared in 2002, are discovered walled up in a café, Ruth is called in to investigate. She gets involved, though she’s busy at UNN, her own university, as the archaeology department for which she is the head is about to be closed down. Naturally DCI Nelson is involved as well as the charming DCI Clough, as it’s happened on his patch. Then our old friend, Cathbad, who nearly died in book fourteen and is suffering from long Covid disappears, leaving everyone devastated. The usual players are involved, along with Ruth’s new sister Zoe, and there’s even an unexpected and timely cameo by an old victim.
Ruth and Nelson struggle with the intricacies of their longtime relationship, given that it’s coming around to Father’s Day and he has two families: the first who seem to take precedence and the second, Ruth and their daughter Kate, who get Nelson time when he’s willing and able. I found myself wanting to bat them both upside the head a few times. Nelson can be thoughtless and Ruth indifferent. The combination leads to romantic stasis, which is why old David, her colleague at UNN archaeology thinks he has a shot.
I think what really draws me to this series besides the archaeological and mythological references are the small towns and cities in the north and east of England, some of which I’d like to visit because of Griffiths’s descriptions. Norfolk, where Ruth lives on the Saltmarsh and King’s Lynn which looks particularly charming, Lincoln and Durham; as well as Blackpool, a northwest coast town billed the UK’s favourite playground. Grimes Graves, a Neolithic flint mine is a creepy setting in this story. I’ll take a pass on climbing down one of those shafts, even though Griffiths’s made the decent herself.
One day, I’d like to begin at the beginning and reread the whole series in order. Why hasn’t this series been picked up for TV yet? Don’t you think it’s about time?
If you’re a fan of British cozy mystery author Elly Griffiths, you’ll know that she’s been writing one Ruth Galloway archaeological mystery each year for over a decade. This is book fourteen. When the pandemic hit, she had to make a decision. Do I set this story in the current reality or not? It’s a decision many authors faced and will continue to face as we move through history. As no-nonsense as Ruth, Griffiths decided to not only to set it during the pandemic but to make it a kind of homage to plagues and isolation. I admit that I found bits triggering at times as I followed the characters through the horror and hassle of the opening weeks of the plague in Britain, February 2020.
Ten-year-old Kate is home, bored, doing school online. Nelson’s wife and young son are away looking after her mother. There are pandemic references: the evening clanging cheer to front-line workers, masking or not, grocery cues, empty shelves and the stocking of staples including toilet paper, lockdown laws, social distancing, two-metre walks out-of-doors, office staff on rotation and working from home, learning to Zoom, teaching from home, loved ones taken away to hospital and the grief of those quarantined and left behind who are not permitted to visit, references to plagues past, and the feeling of never being able to escape the fear and isolation it conjures.
Griffith’s strength is her ability to weave in these facts in a kind of matter-of-fact way, so they never overpower the mystery, which concerns healthy women who appear to be suddenly committing suicide. One woman is even found in her bedroom with the door locked from the outside.
Griffiths’ books are always gently packed with tidbits and meaningful symbols. The title signifies, not only the isolation of plagues in general, but how our “killer” operates, locking victims in total darkness. As is always the case, Nelson and Ruth end up tangled in dangerous climatic scenes of discovery.
Nelson, who’s living alone while his wife’s away, comes calling on Ruth until his grown daughter arrives home, needs her daddy, and he goes running off. That’s Nelson, protector of all and burly man of guilt. Ruth takes it all in her stride, even the discovery of her mother’s lifelong secret—a secret that will come to affect her present moment in a big way.
One thing that bothered me: I came away not understanding the killer’s motivation. He had the means and opportunity but the motive seemed lacking. Perhaps I missed something.
One thing I loved: the “Who’s Who” character pages at the end of the book. My favourite character is Cathbad and, true to form, the druid shaman embraces the pandemic by offering Zoom yoga classes every morning to his children and friends.
Don’t let the pandemic setting deter you. Just be aware that if you start fretting about going out in public, you’re likely triggered. We live in a different time now and this too shall pass.
The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man An Archaeological Sensation. Anne Ross & Don Robins. Summit Books: New York, 1989
This is an “old“ book now as you can see from the date, written by Dr. Anne Ross, Ph.D. in archaeology and expert on the Celts, and Dr. Don Robbins, Ph.D. in solid-state chemistry and faculty of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London. Credentials aside, the book is written for the popular audience; hence the title, “archaeological sensation.” It is, perhaps, the first of its kind, and that makes it important. Also, it’s accessible, written in the style of an historical novel, without all the archaeological jargon, and this I like.
A writerly-friend recommended it to me because I’d studied and written about Old Croghan Man for To Kill a King, another Iron Age bog body, who was unearthed by a peat cutter in June 2003. Lindow Man came first. He was discovered on Lughnasadh (August 1) 1984, and before him came the Danish bog bodies.
In this book, the authors attempt to prove that Lindow Man (called such because he was unearthed in Lindow, England) was “a Druid nobleman and priest, ritually murdered in a spectacular Celtic May Day ceremony, sacrificing his young life to appease the gods following a brutal invasion by the Roman army in what has been called ‘the darkest hour in Britain’s blackest year’.”
reconstruction of Lindow Man
What do I think of their book-long argument?
There is much conjecture. They suggest this and that, refute the argument, then make their point; a strategy that stretches a paper into a sensational book for profit. At times, I hear myself saying “that doesn’t make sense” and then they go on to tell me why it doesn’t make sense, which I already know. Such is the price of publication. I can accept their key argument, but there is a lot of filler.
The “Celtic” history is compelling and highlights much that I’ve read on Druid beliefs:
Druids were gods incarnate and could be both Druid and King.
Bards trained for up to twenty years. They memorized secret lore in triads using complex meter and rhyme
The Celts were not afraid of death as their spiritual beliefs were so strong so made incredible warriors. I envy them their strong beliefs.
They believed in reincarnation, both human and animal. In the interim, the spirit would go to a happy Otherworld of physical pleasures to await rebirth.
They performed sacrifices to ensure victory and show gratitude to the gods.
Captives from battle were sacrificed to the gods, but there were also willing sacrifices, and self-sacrifice
They believed in ancestor worship. The dead could be tricksters with potent power (think of the sidhe: faeries from passage graves)
The Druids had power over the elements. Macbeth echoes this belief.
In the end, the authors give Lindow Man a name: “Lovernios” because of his fox fur armband, and assert that he was an Irish king: a well-nourished noble, unblemished and so not a warrior, with manicured hands much like Old Croghan Man; small by our standards, 5’6” and only 154 pounds, O-blood type, an insular Celt.
The authors assert there was a trade route for Wicklow gold, supervised by the Druids, that ran from Ireland through Anglesey, Wales, into England. And this is the route “Lovernios” took to arrive in Lindow. They provide several maps and offer two appendixes: one of The Druids, and a second on Celts and Germans.
They hypothesize that “Lovernios” offered himself for sacrifice on Beltane in 60AD in a desperate attempt to stop the Romans who had already taken control over much of England. This makes sense to me.
There is an excellent piece on the Celtic Queen Boudica of the Iceni. “She was flogged and her daughters raped, and she vowed bloody vengeance” (87). Boudica sacked three provincial cities, including London, but was defeated, fled, and committed suicide. I’m intrigued by Boudica and want to know more. Why hasn’t her movie been made?
The reason for sacrifice must be epic: a life and death situation, not just for one but for all. Either bad weather and crop failure equaling slow starvation, poor decision-making, or invasion. In this case, the Roman invasion of Britain could be motivation for such a sacrifice. The Roman force was just too strong.
Lindow Man ate charred pancakes, and drank water with mistletoe, as was customary for sacrifice, and died a Triple Death (as did Old Croghan Man.) Kneeling, he accepted three blows to the head that left him stunned. Then a thrice-knotted garrot strangled him at the same time as his jugular was severed, the blood running into a cauldron, and finally he was tethered in the water as an offering. (I will note here that Old Croghan Man had defensive wounds so was not entirely willing but was also tethered in the water by withies.)
Lindow Man at the time of his discovery
Is their argument plausible? Indeed it is. Since that time, the idea of Kingship & Sacrifice has been studied and written about by other archaeologists including Dr. Eamonn Kelly, who created the current exhibit at the National Museum of Archaeology in Dublin.
Griffiths’s latest Ruth Galloway archaeological crime mystery sends us forward in time as well as backward. She’s now Head of Archaeology at North Norfolk U and her daughter, Kate, is thirteen. DCI Nelson, Kate’s father, and the love of Ruth’s life, is still living with his wife and helping raise their three-year-old son (although his parentage is questionable if I remember correctly). But, that’s the kind of guy Nelson is. But hey, come on, don’t you think it’s time you lived your truth, Nelson?
There’s plenty here for readers who enjoy unravelling a murder mystery along with Nelson’s crack detective team, while delving into the lives of old familiars—Ruth & Nelson, Cathbad & Judy—and there’s a new archaeologist in town, David Brown, whose enthusiasm and connection with The Night Hawks make him suspect, and Ruth terribly annoyed.
The Night Hawks are a group of amateur archaeologists and metal detectorists, who wander at night searching for prize loot buried under England’s soil. They discover a Bronze Age hoard along with a three-thousand-year-old body on the beach, and nearby another body—a man recently deceased. Then they discover a bloody scene at a spooky farm house that appears to be a murder-suicide carried out by the husband, a scientist who’s not a very nice guy at all. Add to this soup, the legend of the Black Shuk, a giant black dog with red eyes that prowls the vicinity of Black Dog farm where the alleged murder-suicide occurred, and you’ve got an up-all-night-read brewing.
ellygriffiths.co.uk
One year, I’ll read this whole series from beginning to end again. I’d love to see this series come to television. Producers, please.
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