The Olive Tree: Fruit

By Hannah Howe

Christmas 1937. A respite from the fighting allows time for celebrations, and for passions to ignite.

Volunteer nurse Heini Hopkins can deny her feelings no longer: she is attracted to handsome surgeon, Dr Miguel Martinez. However, her love for International Brigades Volunteer Deiniol Price remains strong. What should she do? Which way should she turn?

Meanwhile, author Naomi Parker wrestles with her feelings for the Condor Legion’s ace pilot, Prince Nicolas Esteban. She also falls under suspicion as Luis Rodriguez, the Minister of Propaganda, hunts for a spy in his camp.

Book four in The Olive Tree: A Spanish Civil War Saga places Heini on the front line where she battles to save Deiniol, and her heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Goylake Publishing
• Release date: Jun 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781739738853

Hannah Howe

Hannah Howe is the bestselling author of the Sam Smith Mystery Series (Sam's Song, book one in the series, has reached number one on the amazon.com private detective chart on seven separate occasions and the number one position in Australia). Hannah lives in the picturesque county of Glamorgan with her partner and their two children. She has a university degree and a background in psychology, which she uses as a basis for her novels.Hannah began her writing career at school when her teacher asked her to write the school play. She has been writing ever since. When not writing or researching Hannah enjoys reading, genealogy, music, chess and classic black and white movies. She has a deep knowledge of nineteenth and twentieth century popular culture and is a keen student of the private detective novel and its history.Hannah's books are available in print, as audio books and eBooks from all major retailers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, iBooks, etc. For more details please visit https://hannah-howe.comThe Sam Smith Mystery Series in book order:Sam's SongLove and BulletsThe Big ChillRipperThe Hermit of HisaryaSecrets and LiesFamily HonourSins of the FatherSmoke and MirrorsStardustMind GamesDigging in the DirtA Parcel of RoguesBostonThe Devil and Ms DevlinSnow in AugustLooking for Rosanna MeeStormy WeatherDamagedEve’s War: Heroines of SOEOperation ZigzagOperation LocksmithOperation BroadswordOperation TreasureOperation SherlockOperation CameoOperation RoseOperation WatchmakerOperation OverlordOperation Jedburgh (to follow)Operation Butterfly (to follow)Operation Liberty (to follow)The Golden Age of HollywoodTula: A 1920s Novel (to follow)The Olive Tree: A Spanish Civil War SagaRootsBranchesLeavesFruitFlowersThe Ann's War Mystery Series in book order:BetrayalInvasionBlackmailEscapeVictoryStandalone NovelsSaving Grace: A Victorian MysteryColette: A Schoolteacher’s War (to follow)What readers have been saying about the Sam Smith Mystery Series and Hannah Howe..."Hannah Howe is a very talented writer.""A gem of a read.""Sam Smith is the most interesting female sleuth in detective fiction. She leaves all the others standing.""Hannah Howe's writing style reminds you of the Grandmasters of private detective fiction - Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker.""Sam is an endearing character. Her assessments of some of the people she encounters will make you laugh at her wicked mind. At other times, you'll cry at the pain she's suffered.""Sam is the kind of non-assuming heroine that I couldn't help but love.""Sam's Song was a wonderful find and a thoroughly engaging read. The first book in the Sam Smith mystery series, this book starts off as a winner!""Sam is an interesting and very believable character.""Gripping and believable at the same time, very well written.""Sam is a great heroine who challenges stereotypes.""Hannah Howe is a fabulous writer.""I can't wait to read the next in the series!""The Big Chill is light reading, but packs powerful messages.""This series just gets better and better.""What makes this book stand well above the rest of detective thrillers is the attention to the little details that makes everything so real.""Sam is a rounded and very real character.""Howe is an author to watch, able to change the tone from light hearted to more thoughtful, making this an easy and yet very rewarding read. Cracking!""Fabulous book by a fabulous author-I highly recommended this series!""Howe writes her characters with depth and makes them very engaging.""I loved the easy conversational style the author used throughout. Some of the colourful ways that the main character expressed herself actually made me laugh!""I loved Hannah Howe's writing style -- poignant one moment, terrifying the next, funny the next moment. I would be on the edge of my seat praying Sam wouldn't get hurt, and then she'd say a one-liner or think something funny, and I'd chuckle and catch my breath. Love it!""Sam's Song is no lightweight suspense book. Howe deals with drugs, spousal abuse, child abuse, and more. While the topics she writes about are heavy, Howe does a fantastic job of giving the reader the brutal truth while showing us there is still good in life and hope for better days to come."

Book preview

THE OLIVE TREE

FRUIT

THE OLIVE TREE

FRUIT

Hannah Howe

Goylake Publishing

Copyright © 2022 Hannah Howe

All rights reserved.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Goylake Publishing, Iscoed, 16A Meadow Street, North Cornelly, Bridgend, Glamorgan. CF33 4LL

Print ISBN: 978-1-7397388-4-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-7397388-5-3

Printed and bound in Britain by Imprint Digital, Exeter, EX5 5HY

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is purely coincidental.

The Olive Tree

available in print, as eBooks and audio books

Roots

Branches

Leaves

Fruit

Flowers

Ann’s War available in print, as eBooks and audio books

Betrayal

Invasion

Blackmail

Escape

Victory

Eve’s War available in print, as eBooks and audio books

Operation Zigzag

Operation Locksmith

Operation Broadsword

Operation Treasure

Operation Sherlock

Operation Cameo

Operation Rose

Operation Watchmaker

Operation Overlord

Operation Jedburgh

Operation Butterfly

Operation Liberty

The Sam Smith Mystery Series

available in print, as eBooks and audio books

Sam’s Song

Love and Bullets

The Big Chill

Ripper

The Hermit of Hisarya

Secrets and Lies

Family Honour

Sins of the Father

Smoke and Mirrors

Stardust

Mind Games

Digging in the Dirt

A Parcel of Rogues

Boston

The Devil and Ms Devlin

Snow in August

Looking for Rosanna Mee

Stormy Weather

Damaged

Sugar Daddy

Stand-alone Novel

Saving Grace

To my family, with love

You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy’s solidarity and universality...we shall not forget you; and, when the olive tree of peace is in flower, entwined with the victory laurels of the Republic of Spain – come back. – La Pasionaria, 1938.

Chapter One

December 1937

At last, Heini Hopkins thought, something to celebrate: Christmas, and a victory at Teruel.

On Christmas Eve, the medical staff and villagers received the news that Teruel had fallen. Despite the wintry weather and icy roads, the Loyalists had drafted in 50,000 troops and, under the fascists’ noses, surrounded the town. Celebrations duly erupted in the streets, and those celebrations spilled over into Christmas Day.

Some of the troops, billeted in local houses, joined the celebrations. They paraded in the village square, their war-torn khaki uniforms offering a sharp contrast to the colourful bunting and fluttering Catalonian and Loyalist flags.

Everyone feasted on roast pig, turkeys and chickens, along with wine, artichokes and nuts. Food parcels and letters arrived from Britain, bringing news of home. The men sat at their trestle tables with their tin plates and mugs while the nurses distributed gifts to the local children, mainly homemade toys and dolls. Gifts of paper, pencils and crayons were especially well received because they were difficult to obtain.

After the feast, everyone gathered in the village hall where the locals entertained the troops, doctors and nurses with traditional dances and songs.

Swept along by the joy and gaiety of the occasion, Heini consumed yet more wine. She was merrily drunk, of that she was aware. So be it, she thought; after so much darkness in recent months, it was good to soak up a moment of light.

Glancing across the crowded hall, Heini noticed that Lise Lazard, her friend and fellow nurse, was enjoying herself too. Lise had recovered from her fractured leg, an injury sustained when the fascists had bombed their hospital at Brunete.

The wounded, those fit enough to stand, joined the festivities. Heini felt particularly pleased for them. She glanced at the wounded and reflected on the fact that she had not received word from her boyfriend, Deiniol Price. He was fighting somewhere on the frontline; she hoped that he was safe.

Heini sipped more wine. She noticed Dr Miguel Martinez. He looked particularly handsome this evening. It was good to see him smiling because he’d been upset since his daughter’s departure, since Espe’s evacuation to Wales.

Heini unfurled a letter from her friend Betsan Parry and read it for the fifth time. The letter informed her that Espe was safe. She was in a colony, receiving food, shelter and an education.

The boys in the colony had formed a football team and were touring the area, beating all-comers. Meanwhile, the girls were staging concerts based on traditional songs and dances. The children had also created their own