Under The Olives is a present day story set on a fictional island in the Ionian Sea off Greece. Everything of importance happens in the strange mesmeric atmosphere amongst the olive trees. Few people ever take the time to really look within these ancient plantations, for the groves themselves are not advertised. The local people are busy existing and going about their daily routine. They have lived alongside the olives far too long to see them as anything more than a large part of their regular income. Visitors flash by without even a glance at the bewitching, eerie, light filtering through from under the low spread trees. They are in too much of a hurry to move on to the next meal or place of interest to tarry and explore. From the outside they are totally unaware of the mysterious allure of the huge groves, where there is a whole, other, hidden world to be found just waiting to divulge its secrets. For those curious enough to venture forth, on first entering, there is a strange ambience; just the smell, the light and the silence, albeit an overload of those three senses. At the beginning that is. Then suddenly there is sound, the continuation of interrupted birdsong, the snap of a twig and motion, movement in the distance, an animal perhaps? But if you stay awhile and persevere, if you decide to linger, look and listen, if your mind is open and fertile, you might just experience something else. Something quite different from anything else previously felt or observed and it could just change your life for ever …
Emma Brook, vulnerable and fragile, leaves a bad situation behind in England to explore the possibilities of a painting holiday in Greece for her ‘Island Hops’ travel Agency. Underneath the olives Emma does indeed discover a whole secret world, just as the man on the plane implied. Who was the shy goatherd who never came out into the light? Why was he hiding? Who was the beautiful reclusive woman? And who were the mysterious little gypsies playing amongst the trees? At the Hotel Stavros Emma meets an intriguing mix of diverse, irrevocably linked, characters and has both welcome and unwelcome visitors of her own. In the hypnotic atmosphere of the olive grove she encounters tenderness, tragedy and drama beyond belief. She finds the answer to a gripping riddle from the past and a certain magic for herself never before experienced.