The Olive Tree: The bestselling story of secrets and love under the Cyprus sun

Product Information

THE AUTHOR: Lucinda Riley is an Irish author of popular historical fiction and a former actress. She spent the first few years of her life in the village of Drumbeg near Belfast before moving to England. At age 14 she moved to London to a specialist drama and ballet school. She wrote her first book aged twenty four. Lucinda died in June 2021. La novela comienza con Alex hijo mayor de Helena quien después de diez años regresa a Pandora para organizar una reunión en la que mas delante de unirá su familia, mientras espera a que lleguen los demás encuentra su diario aquel que escribió cuando el y su familia pasaron ese verano en la casa de Pandora, y así empieza a recordar y a contarnos su capítulos en primera persona cosa que fue increíble porque Alex fue el personaje que mas ame, ese niño de 13 años con un coeficiente intelectual superior a su edad, que como ya empieza a madurar desea conocer quien es su padre, es obvio por el titulo de lo que mas trata la historia, ese secreto que Helena se guarda para si misma, sin contárselo a nadie, quien es el padre de Alex y porque oculta tanto la verdad. También esta narrado desde el Pov de ella pero en tercera persona e incluso algunos pocos capítulos de William su marido.

LE SECRET D’HELENA | Lucinda Riley LE SECRET D’HELENA | Lucinda Riley

When Helena meets her childhood sweetheart by chance, a chain of events is set in motion that threatens to make her past and present collide. Both Helena and Alex know that life will never be the same, once Pandora's secrets have been revealed. How did Alex’s character develop during the events of the summer at Pandora? Are there aspects of the adult Alex that are still the same as his childhood self? Stars. One reader described this book as fluff, but decent fluff. LOL!! That is exactly what The Olive Tree was.The Olive Tree has an entirely different mood and voice. Much lighter and with a nice subtle sense of humour which I appreciated. Each character, from Alex to Helena is very recognizable and you can't help but empathize with their ups and downs. Perhaps because this book was inspired by real life, it's easy pace and heart felt emotions shine through. There's the trademark mystery clues strewn throughout but it never becomes annoying or predictable. For some reason, whenever I'm on a plane I think about dying. To be fair, I think about dying wherever I am. Perhaps being dead is a bit like the weightlessness you feel here, now, in this metal tube. My little sister asked if she was dead the last time we flew because someone told her Grandpa was up on a cloud. She thought she was joining him when we passed one. I think I've read nearly all Lucinda Riley's novels and discovered each has a different voice. The Seven Sisters series I find a little over wrought with emotion that doesn't always ring true for me. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Waitomo District Library for the loan of the audiobook of The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley | Goodreads The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley | Goodreads

Alex tiene por costumbre escribir un diario, ese diario está lleno de emociones, escribe lo que siente y lo que piensa sin miedo a que nadie le diga nada, relatado exquisitamente y muy inteligentemente, utiliza mucho el sarcasmo y la ironía, me hizo reír en muchas ocasiones por las comparaciones que hace y otras veces me dejo con el corazón en un puño. Alex, on the other hand, actually was perfect. I can’t express enough how much I enjoyed his ‘voice’, even towards the end of the book when he was no longer a teen, but an early-twenty-something. If not for Alex this would have been a very drab read indeed. But because of Alex, I know that Ms Riley is a great writer, and because of Alex I will pursue Ms. Riley’s other books and give them a fair chance.Y en cuanto a uno de los puntos menos fuertes, fue el personaje de Helena. Es cierto que ya no vivimos en una época donde los personajes protagónicos tienen que ser siempre moralmente correctos y ninguno lo es, a excepción de los más pequeños. Pero no es que particularmente el personaje de Helena sea malo, sino que me pareció excesivamente perfecto o “demasiado buena” para algunas cosas, como el querer ser siempre intachable y tener todo bajo control, tapando las cosas. Su tendencia a ser una mujer reservada y cerrada me llegó a agotar a veces. Es cierto que sus motivos están más que justificados según como se miren, por lo mismo, no la considero un personaje del todo detestable (ya que en muchas partes su cariño y afecto son sinceros), sino una mujer que, al igual que su contraparte mitológica, su belleza y encanto es más una maldición que bendición.

THE OLIVE TREE | Lucinda Riley THE OLIVE TREE | Lucinda Riley

There are a lot of allusions to the myth of Pandora’s Box, and to Aphrodite and Adonis. How do you find this mirrors the events of the story? Many different types of loving relationships are represented in this book – love for a child, for a husband, a parent, or a friend. Which one spoke to you most?Al principio tenemos a Álex que en 2016 llega a Pandora y al encontrar su viejo diario comienza a recordar lo que ocurrió 10 años atrás, en aquel verano y esta contado en primera persona, son unos meses de descubrimientos, situaciones dolorosas, un primer amor, recuerdos del pasado e incluso aventuras. Me ha encantado su visión de las cosas, es un niño superdotado, pero a pesar de ello, no deja de ser un niño y tener 13 años, maduro para algunas cosas, pero para otras se ve su inocencia, su sarcasmo y tiene sentido del humor. Yet Helena knows that the idyllic beauty of Pandora masks a web of secrets she has kept from William, her husband, and Alex, her son. At the difficult age of thirteen, Alex is torn between protecting his beloved mother, and growing up. And equally, he is desperate to learn the truth about his real father . . . Presently she is happily married to William and he has always felt that she has kept a part of her life from him which he finds frustrating yet endearing at the same time. Little does he know Helena has secrets closely linked to Cyprus. Helena makes the difficult decision of hiding the truth about Alex’s father from him. Do you think she had good reason to do this? I'm not even going to go into the writing style... actually, I will. Endless dialog. Pointless dialog. Chats that have nothing to do with the story progression and don't help build up the characters. There's absolutely no narrative depth, it's like the writer didn't want to show her skills. If she has them. This feels like a book written by a 15-year old.

Lucinda Riley MEDIA | Lucinda Riley

When Helena meets Alexis, her first love, it destabilises her relationship with her husband. Do you think this is a common phenomenon? Why do adults tell kids such ridiculous stories? It only leads to trouble. For myself, I never believed any of them? Lucinda Riley has created such a relatable, likable, loveable, and sometimes downright funny character in Alex that I could have read the entire book from his viewpoint – even though it was written in diary form – and happily given the book five stars.Tengo que decir que Lucinda Riley sigue sorprendiéndome, a pesar de estar escrita hace diez años según comenta ella, es una historia que te atrapa enseguida, tenemos unos personajes muy reales y humanos, con sus defectos, con sus problemas y muchos secretos. Secretos que en mayor o menor medida afectan a todos. Me ha gustado mucho la forma en que está contada, transcurre en Pandora, una casa antigua situada en un pueblo de Chipre, entre viñedos y olivos y ha sido muy fácil imaginarlo todo, era como estar viéndolos entrando y saliendo, en la piscina, en la playa, etc.. Le secret d’Helena” est la promesse d’un livre plein de révélations avec une héroïne attachante dans un lieu enchanteur.» Simplemente lo amé. Se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos de la autora. Con cada página que pasaba, llegaba hasta a sentir el sonido de las olas del mar, queriendo estar ahí, en Chipre y recorrer Grecia. Alex is a 13yr old boy with a highly functioning brain that is far too advanced for his years, but he still has the same emotional outlook on life that you would expect from a teenage boy. ABOUT 'THE OLIVE TREE': Please be aware that in some parts of the world, this book is published under the title 'Helena's Secret'.