Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson
Published: 18th May 2017 (paperback)
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre
Available in Paperback and on Kindle
Today I have a piece from Patricia on the inspiration behind her brilliant debut novel "Islands of Secrets"
INSPIRATION
BEHIND ISLAND OF SECRETS
After taking early retirement,
my husband and I found our place in the sun, Crete. However, I soon realised
the idea of laying on a beach all day with nothing to do was my worst
nightmare.
I found my
solution was to set myself a challenge: to accomplish something new, and
difficult, each New Year and to stick at it like a real job for three hours a
day, through the twelve months. As time passed, amongst other things, I learned
to dive, sail, paint, build, fish, classical guitar, photography.
After living
in the tourist area of Crete for many years, we moved to a very old cottage
that we were restoring in the remote mountain village of Amiras, on the south
coast.
That first
year flew by, decorating and refurbishing the property, and getting to know the
local people (at that time we were the only foreigners living in the area).
The following
spring, in a year dedicated to gardening, I set about organising the vegetable
plot. I’d bought half a dozen strawberry plants from the local agricultural shop
in the town of Viannos, three kilometres away. A place where I was in the habit
of going to meet friends. My favourite kafenion in Viannos was shaded by an enormous,
thousand-year-old plane tree.
As the garden
of our cottage had been abandoned for more than half a century, I decided to
follow Alan Titchmarsh’s advice and double dig before planting. I used the
traditional Greek digging tool, a skapáni, a flat bladed pick. When I hit
metal, I wondered what it could be. I’d already unearthed some weird and
wonderful bits of junk: old weighing scales, and a jerrycan. This turned out to
be neither. What I pulled out of the soil was a rusted machine gun.
Wow!
I took the
weapon to the Amiras kafenion where the men told me many moving stories about
how war effected the local community, especially in 1943. In the nearby town of
Viannos, I handed the gun over to the mayor, for the local war museum.
Over the
following months, the village matriarchs told me their personal stories about the day two thousand Nazis invaded the
village. Some of the women told me of events that they had kept to themselves
ever since that terrible day. I was both honoured and humbled that they shared
these real-life accounts with me, and the more I heard, the more I realised the
women’s story had to be told.
Then, I started
to notice how many local Greek men had blue eyes.
I decided
that my challenge for the following twelve months would be to learn how to
write a novel. I was shocked to discover how exciting, and addictive, writing
fiction is.
The year
after that, based on the facts I had learned from the women of Amiras, Wikipedia,
and the local war museum, I set about writing Island of Secrets.
About the Author
Patricia Wilson lives in the village of Amiras in Crete where the book is set. She was inspired to write when she unearthed a machine gun in her garden - one used in the events that unfolded in September 1943, and much of the novel is based on real stories told to her by the oldest women of Amiras. Woman who've never spoken of their experiences before. This is her debut novel.
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