The Girl Beneath the Olive Tree, Leah Fleming, Laurence Videloup

At the heart of the Second World War, under a Cretan sky streaked with bombs, a woman must choose between two men... Following in the footsteps of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop, a new flamboyant and moving novel, carried by luminous female characters, endowed with unwavering courage.

From the Acropolis hill to the burning shores of Crete, between 1940 and the present day, the journey of an exceptional heroine, attracted to two men as opposite as they are irresistible. After The Child of the Titanic, a novel full of mystery, adventure and passion, in the vein of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop.

1938. Invited to join her sister in Athens, the young and fiery Penny sees this trip as an opportunity to break free from the strictures of English high society and finally gain her independence.
It is there, in the rich ancient city, that her path crosses that of Bruce, a charming New Zealand archaeologist.
But war is about to change her destiny...

Determined to share the Greeks' struggle against the Nazi forces, Penny volunteers to help the Red Cross in Crete and becomes a makeshift nurse in a field hospital. But, as the war rages, how can she hold on without news of Bruce, who has become a resistance fighter? How can she protect her friend Yolanda, a young Jewish nurse? And, above all, how can she not give in to this fascination for Rainer, this high-ranking German whom chance keeps putting in her path?

In 2001, as Crete pays tribute to its veterans, an old woman is about to rediscover an island she left long ago. And to reveal the last secrets of those days spent under the olive tree...