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.
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched The Last Kingdom BBC series. It’s riveting and very well produced. I appreciate that both sides — Saxons and Danes — are presented equally, meaning there are people you will love and detest among the both cultures. Uhtred, the hero of this series, sits squarely in the centre.
Several generations of my father’s Carr ancestors resided in Yorkshire; I imagine that’s where my Scandinavian DNA derives from as Northumbria was the first Danish stronghold in England.
A couple of weeks ago, I found several books from the original series by Bernard Cornwell at my favourite local Indie book store, Western Sky Books. I bought the first four, and just finished reading book 1.
“The best battle scenes of any writer I’ve ever read, past or present. Cornwell really makes history come alive.” —George R.R Martin
Indeed, the raw, visceral, action scenes will port you to 886 AD where you’ll meet the eager Danes who seek the land and the pious King Alfred who fights to drive them off so he can unite the kingdoms of England under his rule. Enter Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who’s taken by Earl Ragnar as a child and raised as a pagan warrior in northern England—territory already controlled by the Danes.
The book follows much like the series, except the feisty Brida doesn’t appear in Uhtred’s life until he’s sixteen. Their sexual liaison is short-lived as she ships out with young Ragnar while Uhtred stays with Alfred. In Book 1, we see him marry Christian Mildrith who gives him a son as well as her debt. And in the final climatic scene, Uhtred sends Ubba Lothbrok to Valhalla in an intense, visceral, man-to-man brawl.
One of the differences here, is that three of Ragnar Lothbrok’s sons are invading England: Ivar the Boneless, Halfdan, and Ubba. Cornwell’s book is well-researched using The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, penned during Alfred’s time (possibly by the king himself) and Asser’s life of King Alfred as well as secondary sources. He admits, “I have feathered lavishly” (333.) Indeed, but it’s a brilliant feathering and we come as close to being there as is possible.
The book includes a map and a glossary of place names written in both the ancient tongue and the modern. Bernard Cornwell is one of the presenters at The Historical Novel Society Conference this September in Darlington UK. I almost signed up, but alas, Greece called. I’m sure he will infuse the participants with his sage knowledge and impeccable writing style. Maybe next time. *Highly Recommended.
I almost put this book down. I only picked it up from the 7 Day Express Loans shelf at the library because of the setting. Not because Michaelides is a New York Times bestselling author or because his first novel debuted at #1 and sold 6.5 million copies. I just really wanted some Grecian atmosphere because I’ve just booked a writer’s retreat in the Cyclades. But the beginning bored me, even though from the first line it promised to be “a tale of murder.”
It was set on an ex-movie star’s private Greek island as promised, but not all of it. (That too was a lie.) And yes, there were moments where the sand and surf and wind buffeted me into that island world, but much of it is set on another island entirely. England. The Fury, of course, refers to the mad Grecian wind—a wind that plays as antagonistic a role as the insane trickster narrator, Elliot Chase (not his real name.) Nothing is real about this narrator. But I enjoyed moments like this:
“We made our way to the coast and began to search the beaches. This was an arduous task, with the wind attacking us as we walked. The fury was relentless, slashing our faces, hurling sand at us, screaming in our ears, shoving us off-balance every chance it got” (160).
It is a locked room murder mystery, I suppose, considering there are only seven people on the island: Lana, the ex-Hollywood actress who owns Aura (the island named after the Goddess); her seventeen-year-old son Leo; her studly boyfriend, Jason; her best girlfriend, a messed up actress named Kate; Agathi, the old woman who is Lana’s faithful servant; Nikos (I can’t remember why he’s there to tell you the truth, perhaps he’s another servant); and Elliot, our fiendish narrator who’s Lana’s friend and obsessed with her.
I say “fiendish” because the author breaks all kinds of writerly rules; like popping in with his opinions when he’s not in the room and can’t possibly know what’s being said. This cardinal “point-of-view” rule haunts me and I dare not break it. But I suppose a NewYork Times #1 bestselling author can do whatever he wants. Elliott frequently pops in with his first-person voice and is the most twisted fuck I’ve read in a long while. I caution you: Don’t believe what he says because three pages later, he’ll admit to making it up and give you a completely different version of the events. Oh, and the characters are actors, playing parts for the narrator, and at times the author, who continues to rewrite the script of this five-act prose-play. It’s brilliant really. Even if it’s as infuriating as that damn wind.
So, why didn’t I put this book down? One word. Spellbinding. Michaelides caught me in his trickster spell and forced me to keep reading, and, as I read, the action revved up—driven by lies and self-propelled by an annoying narrator. I can’t say I’ve read anything like it before.
Is there a murder? Yes. But that’s all I’ll tell you. To know more, you’ll have to mount the wind and see where she takes you. Who of these seven players is the victim and who the killer, I will not say.
Joanna Vander Vlugt believes that all books should be works of art. She’s got a leg up there, being an artist-illustrator as well as a fine writer. Her sketch of protagonist, motorcycle-riding lawyer, Jade Thyme, blasts off the page carried by the energy of the craft.
Spy Girls, book three in the Jade and Sage Thriller series, is a rollicking and relentless legal thriller that answers the question: Can justice really prevail? The plot begins when millionaire Chief Justice Chimera—a revolting toad who sexually harasses and abuses young women who have the bad fortune to end up in his courtroom AND who is destined to become Canada’s next Prime Minister—is found murdered in his hot tub. Is this poetic justice? The work of a vigilante? The problem is: Sage Thyme’s girlfriend was the last person seen in the hot tub with Chimera, and now she’s missing, off her medication, and a person of interest along with Chimera’s wife, Anya, herself a pastry-chef and Russian ex-double-agent. Complicated? That’s not the half of it.
A high-voltage spy thriller, fueled by insidious twists, deceptive characters, and high-stakes action, Spy Girls is played out at intimate settings in Victoria, B.C. and the Downtown East Side in Vancouver.
Things I liked about this book: Slick dialogue and intimate details, like a box of gold-plated teeth from a murdered preacher, that show up here and there as clues. The play on names. A chimera is a devilish, mythological creature formed from parts of various animals; for example, a goat and serpent. Fitting? Indeed. Katriona Kalocsay, the snazzy, psychopathic, Hungarian villain who uses pliers to deal out her own brand of justice (teeth and nails. Yikes!) The formatting: the book comes complete with a Table of Contents divided into four parts. Each chapter highlights a cheeky quotation to rev up the reader and catchy chapter heads.
Vancouver Island writer, Joanna Vander Vlugt has a unique writing style and experiments with fresh ways to use basic literary terms. Gems like “my caterpillar confidence” and “an onion of nerves” catch the reader’s eye. She does something interesting with verbs, adding “ing” in surprising places—“Adam marched in, slamming him against the inside wall,” and “Adam shouted, dropping Jan to the floor”—that complements the action.
Though Spy Girls is the third instalment in the series, this novel can be read alone. There are enough mentions of backstory to piece together the intimate web that connects the characters, be they ex-CIA spies and their handlers; fathers and daughters; sisters, lovers, and friends. The first two novels, The Unravelling and Dealer’s Child, were Canadian Book Club Awards finalists. Joanna worked in the prosecutor’s office for thirteen years and spent another ten working in the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, so has plenty of fodder for her novels. She is also a wonderful interviewer and editor of SAM Magazine. Her motorcycle illustrations have been purchased world-wide, and her Woman Empowered motorcycle art series has been featured in on-line art and motorcycle magazines.
Reading Spy Girls is like running a marathon. It will leave you breathless, yet satisfied.
There’s an ongoing argument among writers about what makes a novel literary rather than genre. This novel, which I picked up in one of my neighbourhood little libraries, solved it for me.
It’s in the voice.
Voice is how an author writes—what they choose to say and how they choose to say it. Voice is the one quality that can slow down my reading because I want to wallow in it, rather than race to find out what happens next.
Sointula is an older novel, going on twenty years, but I don’t feel it’s dated in the least. Vancouver Island and its wild places are still here echoing in the mist. Sointula, for those of you who’ve never heard of it, is a seaside town on Malcolm Island (just off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island). It’s built on the unceded Kwakwakw’akw Territory of the ‘Namgis, Mamalilikala, and Kwakuitl Nations. Sointula was created by a group of Finnish settlers in 1901 as their Utopia.
Bill Gaston weaves his awareness of the island through the experiences of Tom, a rough-edged, damaged, young man who’s there recovering from a near-wack by a Vietnamese gang. Something to do with drugs. Tom is living alone on the beach, observing and counting orcas. He’s also involved in getting drugs into B.C. — something about hearing boats on his orca sonar and building a big old bonfire when the coast is literally clear for the drug boats to come through.
Tom’s life story is described in wistful detail through his mother’s memories.
Evelyn has left her privileged life as the wife of the Mayor of Oakville, Ontario to join her dying ex in Victoria, B.C. After Claude’s passing, she puts his ashes into a glass vile, steals a double kayak, and heads north on her own. Evelyn has no money, no food, no clothes other than the ones she came with. She hasn’t seen her son Tom in a decade but she needs to now. She needs to tell him about his father’s death.
En route, Evelyn meets Peter Gore, whose gall bladder is literally killing him. Still, he joins Evelyn in her stolen kayak with his rum and his desire to write a book. Over many pages, Peter falls in love with Eve and with life.
All three characters are flawed. It would be hard to even sympathize with them if it weren’t for the elegant backstories Gaston weaves throughout this masterful story. I see myself in Evelyn’s estrangement from her grown son and her desperation to find peace in the wild hollows. I love her outlaw spirit. Sointula means “place of harmony” and in all the chaos of travel, sickness, grime, and starvation—traveling without funds is not clean nor romantic—it seems that harmony prevails. Even Love.
Reading Sointula was almost enough to make me get in the car and drive north two hours to Port McNeill. From there it’s only a short ferry ride to Malcolm Island. The land itself plays a character in this story and the tale borders on travel writing.
It was enough to make me look for more Gaston books and take a deep dive into Can Lit.
If you’ve never read Jackie Elliott’s Coffin Cove cozy mysteries you’re in for a salty treat. Each story in this, currently four-book series, builds off the last and draws us deeper into the endangered and fearsome lives of Coffin Cove’s venturesome journalist/sleuth, Andi Silvers, along with her friends and neighbours. Imagine Murder, She Wrote liberally sprinkled with the grit and ferocity of The Shipping News, then nuanced with the history and atmosphere of Vancouver Island small town smack.
Elliott doesn’t shy away from shining a spotlight on political, social, and economic issues common to small provincial towns—especially those whose livelihoods were based on the forestry and fishing industries. We find fishers vs. loggers vs. environmental greenies, as well as rampant sexism, racism, and homophobia. When the tide turns and raw materials are depleted, a town must adapt or die— a sentiment Mayor Jade Thompson wears etched across her forehead. Jade beat out one of the oldest boys in the club to spirit Coffin Cove—a small town near Nanaimo—into the 21st Century, despite almost dying herself. Now, she’s turning the fish plant into a trendy tourist attraction and organizing an Indigenous cultural centre on offshore Hope Island—both gestures that have the locals pointing pitchforks.
The Vile Narrows refers to a treacherous stretch of sea bordering Quadra Island that hid Ripple Rock, “an underwater mountain with two peaks which caused dangerous eddies from the strong tidal currents that ran through Seymour Narrows” in Discovery Passage. On April 5, 1958 the government blew it to bits. Also on that day, Randolph Weber rescued a young boy—an act that comes back to haunt him decades later when, at the age of one hundred, he’s murdered in his home on Quadra Island. Soon after, his son, archaeologist Gerald Weber is murdered in Coffin Cove. Seeing an obvious connection, Andi Silvers sends a young reporter to Quadra to parse out the story for the Gazette. Meanwhile, a psychopath from earlier in the series resurfaces in Coffin Cove and Andi’s father, himself a journalist, disappears. The RCMP are hard into it as Elliott piles body on body with the precision of the most intimate executioner. Her murders are brutal and visceral. Why shoot someone when you can bash in their skull with a cast iron pot or stab them gleefully multiple times with a homemade knife?
Elliott’s strength lies in her ability to twist fact and fiction, past and present, into a pretzel of a tale. I’ve just read all four murder mysteries—though not in order—and had no problem following along, although I drew visual mind maps to connect the characters like Elliott’s detectives do. Each chapter introduces a character with a full-on backstory that situates the reader in the midst of their life, their trauma, and their agenda. Elliott’s writing is fluid, sensory, and descriptive, and she has an excellent ear for dialogue. Moreover, you will learn things, like the difference between a purse seiner and a packer, and what it’s like to live aboard a boat in January.
Elliott writes with all the earthy charm of Anne Cleeves—perhaps the blood of the gritty English murder mystery writer runs through her veins. It’s where she began. Since marrying a Canadian West Coast fisherman in 2004, she’s become enamored with the charm of Vancouver Island’s harbour towns. Book two in this series, Hell’s Half Acre, was shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada 2022 Whodunit award for best traditional mystery. Take a chance on this rivetting cozy mystery series that won’t disappoint. The nautical lover in each of us will enjoy exploring Coffin Cove.
