Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I need to preface this interview with an apology to the author Ms Fleming & the publisher Head of Zeus – as I was wicked happy I could host guest features this Spring for the publisher, however, it has been an especially long while since I’ve had such a horrid dyslexic slip happen as a book blogger! In fact, I can’t remember the last time I inverted a tour date without being able to ‘catch’ it before the wrong date arrived! I hadn’t noticed the issue because having writ down the tour date as “21st of May” and included that on my interview questions for Ms Fleming, I hadn’t sat down to write & edit this post until the week of the 21st – wherein I was able to add-in the graphics and press materials right before the post went live.
Apparently I was meant to run this on the *12th!* of May – which sadly hadn’t happened as I misread my tour date as “21st not 12th” – although I mention every odd moon I am dyslexic and I do disclose it on my biographical sketch as well as my Twitter profile – I am uncertain if anyone notices those disclosures as recently I’ve noticed a lot of people I interact with are surprised I’m dyslexic.
Truth is I am quite dyslexic indeed and I am sorry this is coming out a week late – as for me, I had it in mind I was ‘right on time’ and happily enthused about sharing this conversation this week as it was one of the ones I enjoyed setting up for the publisher. Please forgive the error and know I’m wicked thrilled I was able to host you Ms Fleming for this blog tour as it served as such a lovely introduction to your stories. Especially as I’m going to disclose a bit of unexpected blissitude I received when I ran a search for your name on Scribd!
I’ve been enjoying my focused concentration of spotlighting Contemporary & Historical novelists from Head of Zeus throughout the Spring months this year. It has allowed me to select new authors to seek out and new series to feature on Jorie Loves A Story. Whilst at the same time, I’ve had the chance to interview the authors, host extracts and see which of these lovelies is available in audiobook. The latter is a bit of random joy whenever I spy one of the audiobooks available on Scribd. Some are being released digitally first for those who have a preference for reading via ereaders – for the rest of us, who traditionally read in print and/or opt for audio, we have to wait a bit longer for an edition we can read too.
This is one of the lovely authors I was wicked happy to find is available to read via audiobook on Scribd! There are a total of eight of her audiobooks right now Scribd and I found another story which involves the ‘olive garden’ but I am unsure if the two are connected?* The title for that one is “The Olive Garden Choir”. I was truly wicked thrilled finding so many of her stories were available to start listening to as I am now using Scribd quite regularly along with my local & regional libraries via OverDrive. Audiobooks are a calm bit of joy for me – tucking into them and getting the chance to listen to different narrators as they emotionally pull us into the writer’s voice and story is such a blissitude of joy for me as a reader. It will be lovely to add Ms Fleming to my #mustlisten list this Summer! Especially as #AudiobookMonth is this June!
I am adding the two blog tour banners under our conversation – this way, you can follow the route of book bloggers who took part on the blog tour – finding reviews &/or guest features to help you decide if this is a story you’d like to be reading yourself. If you enjoy listening to audiobooks, kindly let me know if you’ve previously heard one of Ms Fleming’s audio stories in the comments & which one you loved listening to due to the narrator’s performance! Also, if you regularly listen to audiobooks for Contemporary &/or Historical Women’s Fiction – I’d love to hear some of your recommendations?
(*) Quite happily this is answered in the interview!
Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful convo we shared!
A Wedding in the Olive Garden
by Leah Fleming
Can an island in the sun provide the second chance Sara needs?
A warm and uplifting novel about love, friendship and new beginnings on the beautiful Greek island of Santaniki. Sara Loveday flees home and crisis to the beautiful island of Santaniki. Here, amid olive groves and whitewashed stone villas, where dark cypress trees step down to a cobalt blue sea, Sara vows to change her life. Spotting a gap in the local tourist market, she sets up a wedding plan business, specialising in 'second time around' couples.
For her first big wedding, she borrows the olive garden of a local artists' retreat, but almost at once things begin to go wrong. To make matters worse, a stranger from Sara's past arrives on the island, spreading vicious lies. Can her business survive? And what will happen with the gorgeous new man who she's begun to love?
This is a gorgeous, warm-hearted and uplifting novel conjuring the local colour, traditions and close bonds of island life.
Places to find the book:
ASIN: B07RM8FYV5
Published by Head of Zeus
on 7th of May, 2020
Published By: Head of Zeus (@HoZ_Books)
NOTE: “A Wedding in the Olive Garden” is the sequel to “The Olive Garden [Christmas] Choir”
Available Formats: This is a Digital First Release
Ebook & Audiobook released: 7th of May, 2020
Hardback releases: 1st October, 2020
Converse via: #AWeddingInTheOliveGarden, #Contemporary & #WomensFiction
I love your philosophy about reading intuitively and taking a hard look at the writers ahead of you to find your own guiding compass about how writing shall work in your own endeavours whilst fusing a strength of the trade within your literary wanderings. As you write uplifting Contemporary Women’s Fiction – which writers did you seek out originally to gather a keen sense of what the genre tries to encompass within its breadth of stories?
Fleming responds: I am mostly known for writing Historical Fiction so my two Greek island novels are my first foray into Contemporary Women’s Fiction. Needless to say, I do read the genre avidly for my own pleasure. I have found in Milly Johnson’s books such a warmth in her characters, humour with a realistic romance at the heart of the story and poignant issues that keep me turning the page. Trisha Ashley’s stories also have this lightness of touch and humour. In Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series there is a similar northern grit, original humour that also inspires.
Congratulations on shifting from Historicals to Contemporaries! I can imagine it had be quite the experience – as there is a different textural layer to both genres. I love how you broke down why you love Contemporary Women’s Fiction and which authors readily gain your attention. I read it quite regularly myself – however, I am a bit under read in regards to these authors – I will research their back/front lists and sort through which of their stories I might also enjoy. Thanks for giving us such a personal glimpse into your readerly life – it is lovely finding out which stories writers enjoy for pleasure as much as for their craft.
Like you, I get giddy about having more than one library card and used book shoppes, library sales and other lovely antiquarian book finds are among my top favourite discoveries. Which authors do you currently love requesting from one of your libraries you feel might be a bit under a reader’s radar and of which you wish more readers could lock eyes on? I have a feeling it could be a series of Crime narratives – knowing how much you love them!
Fleming responds: My library lending ticket is now reduced to a local one but it is well used. I tend to borrow Biographies of writers and order books for research. However, over the years I have discovered Stephen Booth‘s Cooper and Fry detective series set in the Derbyshire Dales and Frances Brody’s Yorkshire sleuth, Kate Shackleton crime series set in the 1930s. I have discovered Kate Morton, Elizabeth Buchan, Rowan Coleman and Julie Cohen on the shelves.
I personally love finding stories which focus on love, friendship and fresh starts – what inspired the story to focus on couples who wished to wed for a second chance at martial happiness?
I understand what you mean – I have a few different library cards but I’ve had to scale back which ones I can pick up from right now. I only use my local branch however, the other three I can use digitally for audiobooks which suits me better in a way because I keep trying to offset reading in print with listening to audio stories due to my chronic migraines. I find that by going between both mediums helps me greatly. Plus, I am slightly addicted to hearing them now! Laughs.
I have loads of Biographies, Autobiographies & Memoirs on my #mustlisten lists for audio – however, I haven’t quite gotten round to actually borrowing them. I find sometimes Non-Fiction takes me longer and in the past three years especially I hadn’t realised my migraines played such a strong role in not being able to focus on their subjects and content (until recently). Ooh my – more lovely recommendations – I admit, I have a bit of Cosy Mystery & Cosy Crime appreciation – as much as police procedural, Thriller, Suspense and especially any Mystery set in the historic past truly. (as long as its not gritty or violently graphic)
Ooh I do as well! Love, friendship and new beginnings and/or second chances are among my favourites to root out to read as well. They give you such a positive uplift in your life – it is hard to not find a reason to continue to reach towards them. Any bit of joy we can insert into our lives, by book or by lived experience is a wicked good choice, I say!
What was the best bit of developing the aesthetic of the setting and the slower pace of island life?
Fleming responds: Living for a short time on Crete I made new friends with ex pat residents. Many were on their second marriage, creating a new life together in an island setting. For some this turned out well for other not so lucky and I was intrigued as to why. As a former Relate counsellor the subject of second or third time around relationships inspired me to write first: The Olive Garden Christmas Choir and its stand- alone follow up: A Wedding in the Olive Garden.
How interesting! You’re the second author I’ve interviewed this year who has fallen in love with living on a Greek island! I recently interviewed Mandy Baggot who shares your enthusiasm for being in Greece. I used to have a friend I would correspond with who moved from the islands to the mainland regularly during the year. It was always a delight to receive her letters – wherein I had a small sampling of life there myself.
Bless you for answering my curiosity about if the story I found on Scribd is interlinked to this one! They took out the ‘Christmas’ in the title which I always find is a proper shame – I mean, I read Christmas related stories outside of late Autumn and Winter – whilst if that is the true name of a book, it ought to be left in the title. Oh well. At least the mystery is solved – I will listen to the first book before moving into the sequel. You made a bit of a duology – unless there will be future installments. I shall keep an eye out for news!
What did you want to capture most about this location for the reader to feel themselves?
Fleming responds: Island life has its unique charm and pace and I want my reader to capture not only the sun and sand aspect but the variety of landscapes, to wander through the cobbled streets, to sit in the tavern and sample delicious Greek cuisine, to follow the seasonal traditions of the Cretan people. I would like them to want to visit such islands and sample them for themselves to find the friendly welcome I have found over the years.
Just by this description, I feel I am going to enjoy hugging close to your stories and breathing in the Greek life which awaits me. I am a foodie at heart – so any story which highlights the foods and the lifestyle of a particular country or setting resonates strongly with me.
Which secondary character did you enjoy developing into the story and why?
Fleming responds: You asked which minor character I enjoyed developing into the story. Don Ford, the crime writer and tutor had a walk on part in my first draft reminding me of those men I met at conferences and training courses, a bit too fond of the ladies and the booze. But Don became much more than a totem; a man who had made mistakes in his personal life and behind all his bluster has a good heart. He began to play a key role in bringing two sad people together while finding his own enthusiasm for his own writing once more.
Village life, weddings and the simpler joys of living a life at a less hurried pace seem to round out what is happening within the story itself – what did you want readers to take most out of reading this story and spending time with Sara Loveday?
Fleming responds: I would like readers to find Sara’s story uplifting. Here is a woman disillusioned, bitter, lost and betrayed who has the courage to take a leap of faith, take a risk, start something knew. She may continue to make mistakes but learns to trust again. Her story is about dealing with loss and learning to trust her instincts. This requires guts and hope in a new future. I think this is a common theme in most of my novels, past and present but where some stories may have an open ending, Sara’s story must have a good one.
When your not researching and writing your stories what renews your spirit?
Fleming responds: You ask what things revive my own spirit and the answer seems to lie in the pull of hills and the natural limestone landscape of the Yorkshire dales. Funnily enough the same limestone I find on Crete and some parts of the USA. It is an instinctive thing that has served me well over the years. It’s the same with music from sacred chorales to jazz, musicals and dance. I find solace in listening and losing myself in their harmonies and rhythms.
About Leah Fleming
After careers in teaching, catering, running a market stall, stress management courses in the NHS as well as being a mother of four, Leah Fleming found her true calling as a storyteller. She lives in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales but spends part of the year marinating her next tale from an olive grove on her favourite island of Crete.
Follow this Blog Tour:
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Book cover for “A Wedding in the Olive Garden”, book synopsis, author photograph of Leah Fleming, author biography and the blog tour banners were all provided by Head of Zeus and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Conversations with the Bookish banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
.@joriestory NEW author interview!
🏝️A story of second chances
☀️Set in Greece
🏝️Digitally released: ebook & audio!☀️A #HistFic author embraces her #Contemporary #WomensFiction style with a sequel to "The Olive Garden [Christmas] Choir"!🙌
📖💜https://t.co/MawRo0nCJD pic.twitter.com/MB0oFVtRXA
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) May 21, 2020
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