Hi everyone. Happy autumn!

I’ve just come back from a holiday in Corfu. In a way it was a sort of pilgrimage – of the literary kind.

I’ve posted before of my love for Mary Stewart books. I was about fourteen when I discovered her. Her love for Greece, knowledge of the Classics, and poetry ignited something in me. The early romantic suspenses have stayed with me all my life, most especially the ones set in Greece.

This Rough Magic takes place on the island of Corfu. ‘Resting’ actor Lucy goes to stay with her wealthy sister and encounters Sir Julian Gale and his son, Max. Sir Julian delights in the theory that Corfu is the island Shakespeare had in mind when writing The Tempest. The title of the book is a line from Prospero’s famous speech and each chapter is headed with an appropriate quote from the play.

Mary Stewart, as ever, superbly describes the setting in a few crisply chosen words and even though written in the sixties it still held true when I read my kindle edition on the plane over. I didn’t find the cove with the twin villas and the Gothic Forli Castello, didn’t spot a dolphin in the sea but, wandering the narrow streets of Corfu Town, came across Saint Spiridion. Corfu’s patron saint, he’s mentioned throughout the book, holds the island in his benevolent care and is paraded around in a ceremony four times a year. The Easter celebrations are described in This Rough Magic and when I accidentally came across a beautiful church hidden away in a narrow street, I knew I’d found the place where the saint’s remains are kept.

Corfu is an island with many literary connections well worth investigating. I was thrilled to finally visit. Sitting in the airport waiting to fly out to the sun I had a literary connection of my own. I celebrated with champagne. Can’t say much more but will share my exciting news soon!

Love,

Georgia x