Newsletter March 2025
Dear Readers,
Hello from the Olive Farm where spring is finally kicking its heels! Winter seems to have been endless this year, don’t you agree? However, the days are getting longer now. Our farm is brightened by fast-growing mimosa trees that are still in full chick-yellow blossom. The almond trees with their delicate pale pink flowers are heralding the approach of warmer, kinder days; narcissi carpet the terraces, even the borage has transformed the overgrown land from green to a rich periwinkle blue. And as for the explosion of wildflowers – white violets, Victoria violets, Garrigue or dwarf iris just coming out, dandelions, wild marigolds … how all these colours, especially all the yellows and mauves, set my heart singing. It’s like the Hallelujah chorus without sound!
Yesterday, we ate our lunch out on the terrace enjoying the warmth of the sun on our over-wintered faces. It’s GETTING WARMER, I yelled at the blue sky. So, what is new in your world?
Aside from the darkness, the bleakness, of world politics, which I am deliberately choosing to set aside for the greater part of each day because the news is too worrying, frightening, I am concentrating on the positives, the small gifts, daily experiences and encounters which allow me to feel alive inside and not spinning with dread. We have just returned from a ten-day trip along the coast and into Spain.
The novel I am writing is set mostly in Marseille but it also includes a section that takes us to the border. With Michel at my side, we drove slowly towards the last-stop French town of Cerbère and from there we crossed over into the Catalonian region of Spain, then onwards further south to where we stayed a few days with dear friends. Slow travelling, with no particular place to go, is one of my favourite occupations; this time of year it reaps great rewards because I can quietly observe the changing face of the landscape as spring breaks through the winter browns and transforms the skeletal shapes of the trees. Viticulturists were out in their vineyards, their white Citroen vans parked by the hedgerows. They were snipping and pruning and burning off the dead vine shoots. Sprawling groves of rich pink peach trees brought a brightness to the landscape. I am always thrilled to observe the beauty of professionally pruned olive groves. (Ours are currently in desperate need of attention). Look at this statuesque fellow resplendent at a roundabout in a Spanish seaside town called l’Ampolla where we stopped for lunch.
From Barcelona – a city I adore – en route to Valencia and further south, there were, of course, acres and acres of orange trees with their fruits being harvested as we motored by. I have often wondered whether winter citrus fruits with their striking colours were the inspiration for decorating Christmas trees. Does anyone know?
So, happy days of discovery. All for work! Well, mostly – a little play too. Now it is back to the page, refreshed, to bring a richer life to the story, coloured in with myriad images stored in my head, and on my phone’s photo app.
Just a reminder that ONE SUMMER IN PROVENCE, my latest completed novel, will be published in paperback and e-book on 3rd July. I am keeping fingers crossed that the audio will also come out the same day.
If you are outside the UK, Blackwells take pre-orders and ship worldwide for FREE. Here is the link (it’s priced in euros because I am in the eurozone; wherever you are it will price accordingly)
Pre-orders make a huge difference for authors. It encourages publishers to print and get behind the book so, please, if you are willing, do pre-order. If you are in the UK, all good bookshops including the Indies will be carrying it, or you can order through Amazon. They all accept pre-orders.
So, the days ahead of me will be furiously busy. While I write I will also be reading at a pace because I have humbly accepted to be one of two judges for a very prestigious Irish literary prize – more on that when it is officially announced. I am THRILLED to be engaged again with an Irish festival. I always feel stimulated afterwards. And there will be dozens of inspiring writers whose books I cannot wait to get my hands on.
So work and work and quiet days at the Olive Farm. That is the immediate scenario for me.
Two books I have recently finished reading that I would like to recommend.
Firstly, another by Elizabeth Strout – her first published, I believe: Amy & Isabelle. As always it is centred round a community with strong female characters at its heart. In this case a mother and daughter. Strout is spot on with her observations of our tangled emotions.
Also by an American female writer, the latest from Anne Tyler: Three Days in June. It is a light, sweet tale of love rediscovered. It will warm the cockles of your heart!
Keep reading, stay positive, be kind, take delight in the natural world around us. That is the best I can do.
More soon. Thank you for reading this.
Carol
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