Book Blurb
After the death of her mother, Jessie discovers her old diary, written in 1998 during a traumatic three weeks of captivity, having being kidnapped by Corsican nationalists. Twenty-two years later, she decides to return to the island, to face the memories that continue to plague her and to lay any remaining ghosts.
She travels to a mountain village above the bay of Calvi. Before setting out to discover the whereabouts of the remote farm where she was held, she takes time to explore the landscape and enjoy a much-needed holiday in this wildly beautiful place.
But on the evening of the local Olive Festival, she is brought face to face with the past in the shape of the youngest brother of the family who once held her captive, the boy she fancied and the decoy who lured her into captivity. As she is forced to confront the trauma of that experience, her feelings for him are rekindled, drawing her deeper and deeper into an intense, clandestine love affair that threatens them both with most dangerous consequences.
‘This is really good storytelling: a plot that draws you in and makes you want to read on. And the beautiful, clear almost filmic descriptions of the landscape are used to take the reader on the seemingly simple journey that Jessie makes.
She is visiting Corsica as a young woman to rediscover the country and to reconnect with her experience there as a 16 year old.
On one level it is a delightful, engaged and romantic story. But it is very layered, and as Jessie gets more deeply involved it provokes many questions about holidaying or staying in a half understood culture. The difficulties of getting below the surface and the impossibility of ‘going back’
And ultimately there is a pleasure of coming to terms with the present in relation to the past.
Penny Cherns
A very enjoyable exploration alongside Jessie as she confronts these complexities.