The Olive Tree: The bestselling story of secrets and love under the Cyprus sun

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To be fair, Lucinda Riley has been popping up on my radar for some time now, so when The Olive Tree was gifted to me at Christmas I was super excited to jump straight in. The book is not only narrated by Helena, but also by Alex’s childhood diaries. How did you find this glimpse into his character? Do you believe this was an accurate representation of a 13-year-old’s voice?

No se si será una nueva saga familiar, pero me encantaría, aunque todo queda muy bien cerrado y todo solucionado, quedo con ganas de saber de muchos de los personajes como Chloe o Michelle. Anche se ha cresciuto i suoi quattro figli principalmente a Norfolk in Inghilterra, nel 2015 ha realizzato il suo sogno di acquistare una remota fattoria a West Cork, in Irlanda, che ha sempre sentito come la sua casa spirituale, e infatti è qui che ha scritto i suoi ultimi cinque libri. The Olive Tree is an engrossing tale that reminds us that life is often a messy journey complete with smiles, tears, happiness, and heartbreak. Esta historia está llena de historias, se hacen algún guiños a algún que otro libro, como por ejemplo: "Lejos del mundanal ruido" y "Peter Pan".

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It's a conversation I am determined to have during this holiday. I don't care how many times she tries to wimp out of it and conveniently changes the subject. A gooseberry bush for a father is no longer satisfactory.

When, by chance, Helena meets her childhood sweetheart, her past threatens to collide with her present. She knows that the idyllic beauty of Pandora masks a web of secrets that she has kept from her husband and thirteen-year-old son. And that, once its secrets have been revealed, their lives will never be the same . . . How did Alex’s character develop during the events of the summer at Pandora? Are there aspects of the adult Alex that are still the same as his childhood self? In collaborazione con suo figlio Harry Whittaker, ha anche ideato e scritto una serie di libri per bambini chiamata My Angels. Una peste alta a fost o poveste drăguță, dar în cazul meu a fost ultima încercare cu autoarea. Probabil că dacă nu m-ar fi atras atât de mult coperta cărții nu i-aș mai fi acordat nici măcar această a doua șansă. Nu e convingătoare. Poveștile ei au potențial, însă le lipsește ceva-ul acela care face diferența între o operă mediocră și una foarte bună.I'm not even going to go into the writing style... actually, I will. Endless dialog. Pointless dialog. Chats that have nothing to do with the story progression and don't help build up the characters. There's absolutely no narrative depth, it's like the writer didn't want to show her skills. If she has them. This feels like a book written by a 15-year old. Alex is a boy of rare high intelligence at 13 he is clever and perceptive beyond his years, this becomes more apparent later on in the book. Things change when William’s friend Sacha and his family are due to be staying with them as Helena with the help of a certain someone get the dilapidated house into a liveable condition. Simplemente lo amé. Se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos de la autora. Con cada página que pasaba, llegaba hasta a sentir el sonido de las olas del mar, queriendo estar ahí, en Chipre y recorrer Grecia. Her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Italian Bancarella prize, The Lovely Books award in Germany, and the Romantic Novel of the Year award. In 2020 she received the Dutch Platinum award for sales over 300,000 copies for a single novel in one year – an award last won by J K Rowling for Harry Potter.

Aún recuerdo el día, igual que todos, que entré a mis redes sociales, para encontrarme con la noticia del fallecimiento de Lucinda Riley el 2021. No la conocí en persona, pero sentí pena y hasta un poco de temor, de qué pasaría con su obra, más que recién estaba comenzando a juntar la saga de “Las siete hermanas”. Por lo que este es el primer libro que leo desde aquella noticia.There are a lot of allusions to the myth of Pandora’s Box, and to Aphrodite and Adonis. How do you find this mirrors the events of the story? When Helena meets Alexis, her first love, it destabilises her relationship with her husband. Do you think this is a common phenomenon? There are only a few authors that no matter the theme or size of the book their stories are always filled with magical characters I can’t get enough of and stories that are so atmospheric and vivid I’m entertained, enthralled and swept away and Lucinda Riley is one of them. She has the incredible ability to take her innate knowledge of all the psychological and emotional entanglements found in nuclear families and weave them into a story you can’t put down. I absolutely loved this book and will now try my hardest to patiently await her next release, The Pearl Sister, book #4 in The Seven Sisters series due out late 2017/early 2018. La novela comienza con Alex hijo mayor de Helena quien después de diez años regresa a Pandora para organizar una reunión en la que mas delante de unirá su familia, mientras espera a que lleguen los demás encuentra su diario aquel que escribió cuando el y su familia pasaron ese verano en la casa de Pandora, y así empieza a recordar y a contarnos su capítulos en primera persona cosa que fue increíble porque Alex fue el personaje que mas ame, ese niño de 13 años con un coeficiente intelectual superior a su edad, que como ya empieza a madurar desea conocer quien es su padre, es obvio por el titulo de lo que mas trata la historia, ese secreto que Helena se guarda para si misma, sin contárselo a nadie, quien es el padre de Alex y porque oculta tanto la verdad. También esta narrado desde el Pov de ella pero en tercera persona e incluso algunos pocos capítulos de William su marido. At the difficult age of thirteen, Alex is torn between protecting his beloved mother, and growing up. And equally, desperate to learn the truth about his real father ...

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Waitomo District Library for the loan of the audiobook of The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Why do adults tell kids such ridiculous stories? It only leads to trouble. For myself, I never believed any of them? As he grows into a young man, falling in love and taking classes at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, he can almost forget the terrors of his past, or the promise he has vowed to keep. But across Europe an evil is rising, and no-one’s safety is certain. In his heart, he knows the time will come when he must flee once more.Y en cuanto a uno de los puntos menos fuertes, fue el personaje de Helena. Es cierto que ya no vivimos en una época donde los personajes protagónicos tienen que ser siempre moralmente correctos y ninguno lo es, a excepción de los más pequeños. Pero no es que particularmente el personaje de Helena sea malo, sino que me pareció excesivamente perfecto o “demasiado buena” para algunas cosas, como el querer ser siempre intachable y tener todo bajo control, tapando las cosas. Su tendencia a ser una mujer reservada y cerrada me llegó a agotar a veces. Es cierto que sus motivos están más que justificados según como se miren, por lo mismo, no la considero un personaje del todo detestable (ya que en muchas partes su cariño y afecto son sinceros), sino una mujer que, al igual que su contraparte mitológica, su belleza y encanto es más una maldición que bendición. The narration of the audiobook is superbly performed by Lucinda Riley herself and her son, Harry Whittaker. There is also an interesting discussion between the two at the end of the audiobook where they discuss Lucinda's writing. Her son from a previous relationship Alex has never known the identity of his father and neither does her husband. Between them they also have a son and a daughter, Helena goes ahead to Cyprus with Alex and little by little secrets are starting to unfold.