What was your first job? Did you like or dislike it? Why?
My first proper, full time job after I graduated was commercial traffic manager for a radio station. It wasn’t the most exciting job in the world – it was scheduling the adverts so that everyone got what they paid for, and there were no nasty clashes, for example two car dealers in the same ad break. However in 1984 it was hard to get into any media environment and it had its perks – not many people can say they’ve had Rick Wakeman playing on the terrace outside their office window!
Do you have a pet peeve? If so what is it?
Goodness, that’s hard. There are a number of grammatical ones that have me screaming at the TV or radio, or muttering darkly as I walk past a sandwich board, but in the grand scheme of things they really aren’t that important.
I think what annoys me most is when people are intolerant, and won’t even listen to other points of view. Sadly that happens more and more these days – we seem to have lost the ability to debate, and to accept that there are many valid views other than our own.
Do you spend more time researching or writing?
It used to be more time writing, but my latest book, An Island of Secrets, is a World War Two dual timeline set in Croatia, and that required a great deal of research. Not just the history of the times, and how people lived in what was then Yugoslavia during the war, but given the history was so key to the story I also had to set it somewhere I had never been. Luckily we were able to travel last summer so grabbed a week on the island of Vis and visited as many of my locations as possible, as well as hiring a specialist WW2 guide. It’s made a world of difference to the finished book.
Tell me about your book An Island of Secrets and where you got your inspiration for it?
Once I finished The Olive Grove I knew I wanted to stay in Croatia so I started to look for another story to tell. I’ve always been interested in WW2 – two of my books written as Jane Cable look back to it – so that seemed a good place to start and I discovered the British actually had a base on the tiny island of Vis for a while, and it was the only part of Yugoslavia never occupied by the Germans.
The spark was when I discovered British commandos had witnessed the partisans executing their female compatriots for fraternisation. A number of the partisankas, as they were called, were pregnant and my hero, Guy Barclay, vows to try to save as many of them as possible. It’s a dual timeline and in 2014 his granddaughter Leo, who desperately wants a baby herself, visits the island to try to find out what happened to the women Guy had to leave behind.
How much of your book is realistic?
There is a huge amount of historical accuracy because I found some very good reference books. Obviously the inciting incident actually happened, but of course my characters’ reactions to it and their stories are from my imagination. However the dates they would have been on the island, what they were doing there, where they were billeted etc are as accurate as it is possible to be. I’ve used the right names for the commanding officers, the historical facts for when Tito was based on Vis, and some gorgeous little wartime vignettes, for example a commando who smuggled his local girlfriend back to Italy in his kitbag.
What are your ambitions for your writing career?
I have always said my dream would be to see one of my books on the ‘buy one get one half price’ table at Waterstones and that hasn’t changed. Perhaps this time!
Who is your role model? Why?
In writing terms it must be Rosanna Ley. My books are definitely in the same market as hers and I think she’s a very fine writer. She also a tremendously kind woman and generous with her time. I’ve been on one of her writing retreats and hopefully will be on another by the time you read this, and she’s a gifted and inspirational tutor too.
Share one fact about yourself that would surprise people.
I gave up studying history at school as soon as I could because I found it boring. Now I’m absolutely obsessed by it.
An Island of Secrets:
For fans of Dinah Jefferies, Victoria Hislop, Lucinda Riley and Rosanna Ley, this is a stunning and sweeping WW2 novel that shows a side to the war not often seen before.
That was then…
Seventy-five years ago, British SOE spy Guy Barclay was forced to leave behind the woman he loved in war-ravaged Yugoslavia.
…This is now
As ninety-three-year-old Guy’s days draw to a close, he asks his granddaughter, Leo Holmes, to go looking for answers. Given that her marriage has imploded and her City job is on the verge of killing her, Leo agrees and rents a house on the island of Vis, where her grandfather was stationed in the Second World War.
But as Leo’s search takes her down unexpected roads – and into the path of a gorgeous local, Andrej Pintaric – she begins to wonder if this journey down memory lane might yield unexpected results for more than just her beloved grandfather…
https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/an-island-of-secrets-eva-glyn
Eva Glyn writes escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart. She loves to travel and finds inspiration in beautiful places and the stories they hide.
Her last holiday before lockdown was a trip to Croatia, and the country’s haunting histories and gorgeous scenery have proved fertile ground, driven by her friendship with a tour guide she met there. His wartime story provided the inspiration for The Olive Groveand his help in creating a realistic portrayal of Croatian life has proved invaluable. Her second novel set in the country, An Island of Secrets is a dual timeline looking back to World War 2. Eva Glyn is published by One More Chapter, a division of Harper Collins.
Eva lives in Cornwall, although she considers herself Welsh, and has been lucky enough to have been married to the love of her life for more than twenty-five years. She also writes as Jane Cable.