Kardamyli with Emma Cowell
Kardamyli with Emma Cowell
I fell in love with Kardamyli on the Greek mainland about ten years ago. It is set at the foot of the imposing Tygetus mountains on the Mani peninsula and almost has its own climate. You’ll often hear the grumbles of thunder high up in the peaks which thickens the air. The cuisine is unique and the area is famed for its salted pork and spiced sausage. My research process is not a hardship! I always wanted to set a novel in Kardamyli, but as with all my stories, the place burrows away and emerges when it decides the time is right. I have very little to do with it!
Book map of Beneath the Orange Blossom
There is something to be said about being in the location where the novel is set whilst writing. Last summer I spent some time in the village and was able to add in tiny details that I may not have recalled when in another corner of Greece or the UK. The descriptions of shop fronts, the olive trees on the hillside or the fruit trees nestled in alleyways help bring a place to life, especially for readers who don’t know that part of the Greek mainland. I confess, I did fictionally plant a lot more orange trees than there are in the real village. Nevertheless, the smell of blossom and jasmine in the warm air during the spring and summer months is a scent like no other.
Emma Cowell
Book map of Beneath the Orange Blossom
The female friendship featured in the novel is entirely invented but was borne of hearing the song Fast Car by Tracey Chapman for the first time in years. I recalled how it was an anthem for me and my best friend when we were eleven.
We would sing it constantly, putting the world to rights between listens and still I think of her when I hear it. That was the initial seed for the two main characters, Ellen and Penny, and I then built a fictional friendship that spanned four decades. When considering the trials, ups and downs that we endure over such a period of time, there was plenty to uncover and write about- including the secrets they’d hidden from one another.
Book map of Beneath the Orange Blossom
Re-creating a teenage road trip for Ellen and Penny was great fun from the vantage point of their early fifties. It turns out that the eighteen-year-old versions of themselves were much less complicated and non-judgmental! It was a rich vein to tap into for my book along with a lost love storyline; a holiday romance that suddenly ended but has endured for Ellen even thirty years later. Both women when they return to Greece in the story are searching for something, though neither is sure what it is they are looking for. They both have high hopes for their first trip together in so many years, but it isn’t plain sailing- far from it.
Book map of Beneath the Orange Blossom
I also wanted to tell a story that featured domestic violence since there has been much public discussion about toxic masculinity of late. I spoke at length to the charity Refuge and took inspiration from their areas of focus along with the brave survivors who shared their stories with me.
(c) Emma Cowell
Book map of Beneath the Orange Blossom
Delfina Beach
Despite the hard-hitting issues featured, this is very much an uplifting story of hope and healing beneath the Grecian sun. Readers will definitely recognise the place from the book if they travelled there, especially the little beach, Delfinia Beach just outside the village, the cafes and tavernas but there isn’t a dressmaker’s shop, that one I built in the main street from my imagination.
There is a special scene towards the end of the novel that is set in a taverna called Yioryitsa’s Backyard. And it is a real place in Kardamyli that I urge people to visit. I cannot recommend Voula’s cooking enough- she is fabulous. Only in Greece would you find the local lawyer running a taverna!
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Beneath the Orange Blossom
Insta: @/emmacowellauthor
Facebook:@EmmaCowellAuthor/
