Tag Archives: greece

THE ECHOES OF LOVE – REVIEW AND INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR JENNY ASHCROFT

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Jane Cable reviews this fabulous historical romance

Where do I begin with this incredible book? With the sweeping love story at its gripping heart, or the impeccable historical research, or the phenomenal sense of place and time that had me living and breathing Crete in 1936 and during the Second World War? Or shall I just cut to the chase and tell you this will most likely be my book of the year.

In 1936, eighteen year old Eleni Adams returns from England to Crete to spend the summer with her Greek grandfather, something she has done every year since her mother died when she was a baby. But this summer is different; this summer she falls in love with Otto, the German boy staying in the villa next door, and I was as captivated by the breathlessness of young love, the intensity of feeling, as I was by the setting that made me feel as though I was really sitting above that cove near sun-drenched Chania.

But we all know our history, and in 1941 Crete was captured by the Germans. By that time Eleni is an SOE agent based on the island, and rather than leave she goes underground in the bombed out ruins of Chania to help to support the resistance. Meanwhile Otto is one of the first wave of fighters to be parachuted in; a reluctant Nazi, a man who stands against cruelty and reprisals, and of course the lovers’ paths cross once again.

Also running through the book is the transcript of an interview from 1974, given by the man who, it becomes apparent, betrayed Eleni. A man who knew her well. A man who she trusted.

This book transported me absolutely, haunted my dreams, tore me apart, and put me back together again. It’s an absolute triumph, so I was delighted when Jenny Ashcroft agreed to tell me how, and why, she came up with the idea of the interview transcript.

 

JA: First of all, thank you so much for this wonderful review. I’m absolutely thrilled you enjoyed it! As for the transcripts, the idea for those actually came before the central idea for the book. Often when I’m trying to come up with something new, I’ll write scenes or bits of dialogue that spring into my mind, and one afternoon I found myself playing around with a prologue written in interview form.

I love historical documentaries, and just thought that the dynamic between a researcher and their subject could be a really rich one – especially if that subject is carrying some deep regret, or secret, from their past. So, I wrote a sample for my agent, she really loved it, and when, a couple of weeks later, I went back to her with my synopsis for The Echoes of Love, she was really enthusiastic about that too, but asked, ‘Is there any way you can get that transcript idea in?’ I thought there was, decided that they could work as being from a fictional BBC documentary commemorating the liberation of Greece, and that’s how the transcripts came to be woven through the text of Eleni and Otto’s story.

All very iterative, and I wish I could say that I knew from the start precisely what I was doing, but I never seem to know that with any book! For me, it really is the case that it’s only when I start to write that I come to realise where I want to go. But I’m so glad I did weave those transcripts in. They really did become such a core part of the story.

 

 

MY WRITING JOURNEY – PATRICIA WILSON

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At fifteen I left school and went to work as a Co-op window dresser. By the time I reached 35, I had two clothing alteration and repair shops, seven staff, a small catering business, a party-plan business selling childrenswear and toys, a husband and two children. I hardly had time to think, yet I was delighted by my own success. Then a catastrophic event caught me off guard. For the first time, I asked myself: Why am I working myself to death?

At around this time, A Place in The Sun started on TV. It seemed so appealing to retire to a warm country, so I made a plan to retire at 45. After another ten years of hard work, my goal came to fruition. We sold everything and bought a lovely place on Crete. After such a hectic life, I found it impossible to just stop, lie on a sunbed all day, and drink cocktails in the evenings. I decided to teach myself something that I wanted to do but had never made the time before. I would treat the task like a part time job for a year, and commit to it for three hours a day, five days a week.

I learned to sail single-handedly, play guitar, self-sufficiency, scuba and free dive, paint, distil raki and make wine, use a computer, plaster and do stonewalling, photography, video, until after about ten years, I ran out of things I wanted to learn. I know, I thought, I’ll write a book. Being dyslexic, it was the most difficult thing I ever attempted! My computer had Word installed, which was my greatest friend. It had a spellcheck, which I managed to confuse, and had endless patience. For the first time in my life, I found myself able to put my thoughts down on (virtual) paper. What miracle was this? I cannot describe the joy it gave me. I wrote simple poems, short stories, letters to people, a journal of my adventures in Greece. I thrilled whenever anyone said, ‘Thanks for the letter, I really enjoyed it.’

Naively, I had every confidence in my blockbuster’s success, assuming I would easily find an agent and get published. Soon enough, I faced up to my first total failure since leaving school – no one was interested in that first novel.

The following year we moved to a remote mountain village where I happened upon a machine gun buried in my garden! I showed it to the locals and with tears in their eyes, the old village women told me such moving tales from WW2. I felt a duty to record these events, so I created a character who was an amalgamation of these brave women and told their stories. That I was living in the house where such tragedy happened only hyped up my own emotion, which poured onto the pages.

That manuscript became Island of Secrets, represented by my agent, Tina Betts, then my publisher, Bonnier Books UK. The team at Bonnier guided me into producing a moving novel based on brave women and historical events surrounding the machine gun. From that moment, I decided to write about injustice, forgotten wrongs, and empowered women. All my novels link the Greece islands with Britain and are based on real, if little known, events in Greek/British history.

My fifth novel, Summer in Greece, is out on 15th April. RMS Titanic’s sister ship, HMHS Britannic, was a luxury liner that sailed out of Belfast, heading for Greece to rescue soldiers wounded at Gallipoli in WW1. My novel is a story of tragedy and triumph – tears and laughter, and a drama that continues to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

5 Tips to cope with the Euro Meltdown

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5 Tips to cope with the Euro Meltdown by Karen Perkins.

1 Take control. Review, and keep reviewing all your savings/bank accounts etc and decide if you have anything to worry about. If yes, make a plan and act now. if not .. relax & praise yourself, at least you have acted.
2 Choose to listen less to the News .. let go of things you cannot control.. concentrate on the things you can .. you can choose to take on less stress, especially if its not your own !
3 Get over it… think of people who are much worse off than you, imagine having to walk 4 miles a day for clean water !
4 Protect ,and futureproof your current job/ business by keeping your eye on the ball , and being indispensible.
5 Help others, do at least 1 Random Act of Kindness a day , volunteer to help a charity , we are very lucky here in Sheffield ..

Good luck !

Karen Perkins is a life coach. For more information go to her site.

Huge Protests Inspired by Suicide of Greek Pensioner – How Much More Can Greece Take?

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A 77 year old Greek pensioner took his own life outside the Greek parliament building on Wednesday morning. Retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas shot himself in the head with a handgun. In a suicide note, Christoulas linked his tragic act to the country’s economic crisis. In the note found by his daughter he wrote, ‘I have no other way to react apart from finding a dignified end before I start sifting through garbage for food,’

The act immediately sparked widespread sympathy and anger. An impromptu anti-austerity rally was launched on the same day and there were clashes with police. Police clashed with around a thousand protesters for a second day on Thursday. Some were blaming politicians and EU leaders for the death. The protestors chanted, ‘Killlers!, Killers!’.

Christoulas is thought to have attended anti-cut protests the previous year and has been described as politically active. Sympathisers called his actions, ‘A clear political act … he was giving his life to change the situation’.

Suicides in Greece have doubled since 2009 having previously been the lowest in Europe. Greece is struggling to cope with the heavy austerity measures which have been forced upon in by the bigger European economies in exchange for bailout funds.

Already the recent bailout is looking like a distant memory. As I mentioned in an earlier article  it was extremely disappointing that EU leaders did not attempt to solve the problem once and for all. Already we are getting suggestions that a third bailout will needed. The Greek growth predictions are extremely optimistic given the levels of austerity it will need to bear. Yields on the new Greek PSI bonds (the bonds investors were forced to swap their existing holdings for) have soared to over 21% in the last couple of days.

As the actions of Christoulas show, the EU leaders and economists, have underestimated the Greek people. There is only so much the Greek people will take. The real crunch point is likely to come in June when cuts worth about 7% of GDP are expected to be announced. How much more will the Greek people take?

My guess is that we are close to the breaking point. Christoulas’s tragic act may be the symbolic trigger which sets everything off. One of the major issues Greece faces (which people often forget) is that Greek banks, pension funds and other Greeks hold most of the Greek government debt. This is why some in Greece are so reluctant to leave the Euro. Nevertheless something will have to give.

 

 

The Latest Greek Bailout – The Worst Decision Possible

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It always happens with politicians, you get ‘compromise’. And it’s exactly what’s happened with the latest Greek bailout. Rather than the much needed bazooka to deal, with the problem we’ve ended up with the usual indecisive and ineffective compromise, which only results in a short term solution.

If politicians had just had the guts to commit a bit more support we might have had a real resolution. As it is Greece is left mired in uncertainty. It is extremely likely a further bailout and/or default will be needed.

Even under the optimistic baseline scenario of the current deal Greece will still be at a debt to GDP ratio of 129% by 2020. That’s 8 years away and still well above the 120% considered unsustainable.

And what reasons are there for thinking the baseline will come true. Greek growth was far worse than expected last year at -6.1%. Greece has never been able to successfully implement the required reforms in the past. If Greece misses its growth targets by just 1%, a scenario which seems highly possible given Greece is expected to grow by a rosy 2.3% in 2014 (despite severe austerity measures), all other factors being equal Greece will have a debt to GDP ratio of 159%. Virtually the same as it has now! And if Greece doesn’t return to growth the consequences don’t bare thinking about. One bad number in the next 8 years would knock everything of course.

This bailout will not offer any confidence for business. The Greek people are already furious. How will they be after another 8 years of severe austerity with no or little progress on debt? Even if they achieve the baseline and get back to 129% debt to GDP they are still left in a dire position.

Once again the policy makers have found the worst option. Short term thinking politicians are pandering to their electorates and only thinking of their upcoming elections.

To set a date for default, take ownership of the problem and leave the Euro would have been a better option for the long term for both Greece and the Euro.

Even better a bigger bailout designed to knock Greek debt to GDP ratio back below 100% would have inspired confidence. Businesses would not be so afraid to invest. Greece might have even been able to sell some of its assets to the private sector for a reasonable price. This was an affordable solution. Unfortunately the German tax payer and others refuse to pay.

At some point either the Germans or the Greeks are going to say enough is enough. NO MORE BAILOUTS. It is likely that Greece will default again and leave the Euro anyway. But instead of doing it now and beginning the recovery we must drag on with the worries of Greece weighing on growth and confidence throughout the whole of Europe.

Markets Collapse on Greek Referendum

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Markets across Europe have fallen heavily following the news that Greece will hold a referendum on the latest bailout plan. Eurozone leaders had agreed to write off 50% of Greek debt but the deal may now not go ahead. A no vote will probably lead to a disorderly Greek default and Greece leaving the Euro. That could lead to severe financial contagion across Europe. Worryingly opinion polls in Greece suggest a No vote is probable. The vote is unlikely to take place until January potentially creating months of uncertainty for the markets. That uncertainty could damage confidence throughout the world.

The FTSE is currently down 3.5% while the Dax was down almost 6%. The French bank Societe Generale was down 17%. Credit Agricole was down 13%.

A confidence vote on the Greek government is due to take place on Friday. Many in Greece are now calling for early elections.