This is the final Thursday chat for the time being and I do hope you have enjoyed meeting new authors.
Jane Cable and I go way back to indie days and we have enjoyed a couple of excellent Spanish writing retreats, walking together and thrashing out ideas. I have read all her books and she gets better and better. Jane writes under her own name but for her Croatian-based books she writes as Eva Glyn. Eva’s latest publication is The Dubrovnik Bookclub
Croatia is a country I have yet to visit and Jane’s books have enticed me to put this place on my bucket list. Jane uses the complex historical background for her “escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart.”
This latest book is constructed cleverly, with the choice of books studied by the group linking with various issues of the members. I’ll post my review later.
But, over to Jane and her excerpt.
Vedran began to walk on, following the alleyway as it snaked inside the towering walls, then around the corner into the square dominated by the solid bulk of the Jesuit church. Its frontage glowed golden-grey in the last of the daylight, the rich sound of its organ drifting through the open doors to welcome worshippers to Vespers.
He gripped his hands in his pockets, what was left of his fingernails digging into his palms. “It’s what happened afterwards. Fran hasn’t told you because we’re keeping it from Tetak, but, well…” Oh god, he couldn’t look at her. “There were people who believed I’d killed Didi.”
Why did you choose this particular piece, Jane?
Although essentially about the friendships formed through a shared love of reading, The Dubrovnik Book Club has a mystery at its heart: what happened on the morning Vedran’s girlfriend, Didi, went swimming and didn’t come back. I also chose this particular extract because it gives a tiny taste of Dubrovnik old town, which readers tell me is an important character in the novel.
I can’t wait to visit, having read the wonderful pictures in your stories. Thanks so much for sharing on my blog.
A photo of Jane (on the right) and me on a Spanish writing retreat in Andalucia
My review – 5 stars
This book starts with a dramatic prologue: “Help me. Help me, please. My girlfriend went swimming two hours ago and she hasn’t come back.”
I was hooked and pulled in further by intriguing characters who are all involved with a bookshop in the mediaeval quarter of Dubrovnik and who gradually bond in friendship.
Eva Glyn’s writing gets better and better. I love this book with substance. All of the personalities have problems and their stories interlink as they join a book club and as the story develops, they discover their own stories together along the way.
We have Claire with her “germ-obsessed head” She needs to lose her fear of Covid; has to “recapture… joy in life for herself” – not easy in a confined space.
We also have Claire’s uncle Vedran – and I loved the mystery surrounding him and introduced in the prologue: Didi – the missing girlfriend. What did he do to her? Is she dead? How did she die? Is he a good man?
He and his niece have become “a couple of hermits” with their problems. He doesn’t know if he will ever be able to “tell anyone the whole truth about how it was.” And the tension continues with this strand throughout the book and it made me turn the pages.
There is delightful Luna “who dreamed of tolerance, laughter and excitement and the opportunity to make new friends…” away from her bigoted upbringing in the countryside. Luna, the “butterfly” is probably my favourite character: complex, confused, thwarted, needing to escape her narrow-minded background. She’s frightened of her feelings. “Don’t be frightened of pain, because without it you will never know joy,” another protagonist (Karmela) tells her.
Professor Karmela Simic from Sarajevo, a Bosnian, born Yugoslavian and now living in Croatia, studies history and divisions of the past. Burrowing into history makes her feel safer. History is like a “weapon” for her – the only thing she can fight with. I enjoyed seeing the antiquity and the architectural details of the beautiful ancient city through her eyes. She is particularly interested in the Ragusans, a period of history she wants to study more – the civilization that had ruled Dubrovnik in medieval times. She too has trauma in her past that has held her back for thirty years
Rafael is a drinker and a huge character is a fighter from the recent war – an unlikely friend to Karmela. He’s not a big reader, but the book club becomes for him “a place of sanctuary” as he tries to dumb down his time as a “Dubrovnik Defender” in his younger years.
There is Ezra too – the techy geek who is a useful character in helping the club in developments that arise with the club. I found him less memorable, but nevertheless, he is an important part of the story.
I love that the themes of the books selected each month are in turn reflected in their modern-day stories. “That’s the essence of a book club, isn’t it? Trying different things…” and the discussions help work out, winkle out, problems and issues all these characters have.
“So much of what should be out in the open is brushed under the carpet. It’s good to talk about these things,” says Claire.
There is lots of delicious food – savoury flaky pastry delights, fish stews, comfort food of all kinds. I need to visit Croatia to savour for myself.
About the author
I love to write escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart. Travel is my passion and I love to find inspiration in beautiful places and the stories they hide.
My love affair with Croatia began in 2019, and since then the country’s haunting histories and gorgeous scenery have proved fertile ground for my books, driven by my friendship with a tour guide I met there. His story of his childhood living in shelters during the conflict in the 1990s provided the inspiration for The Olive Grove, and his help in creating a realistic portrayal of Croatian life has proved invaluable for all my books.
My second novel set in the country, An Island of Secrets, is a dual timeline looking back to World War 2, and although my third is a contemporary romance featuring mature main characters, The Collaborator’s Daughter has its roots in that conflict too.
Inspired by authors I love such as Libby Page and Faith Hogan, I’ve wanted to write books about unlikely friendships for a long time. March 2024 sees my dream realised when The Dubrovnik Book Club is published. I had just the best fun ever choosing the book club reads, including titles by authors as diverse as Richard Osman and Jane Austen.
I consider myself Welsh but live happily in Cornwall, and am lucky enough to be married to the love of my life, who I’ve been with for almost thirty years. I also write as Jane Cable.
The purchase link for The Dubrovnik Book Club: https://mybook.to/TheDubrovnikBookClub
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