The Olive Tree is the fifth in a series of personal memoirs by Carol Drinkwater, focusing primarily upon her travels in search of answers to questions about the history of the olive tree and what this might spell for its future and her farm in Provence. Covering Carol’s journeys throughout the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy) and north Africa (Algeria, Morocco), this time the driving motivation for her quest comes from the problems that she and husband Michel are facing back on their own farm, in the form of the Dacus fly which is destroying their olive trees and a worryingly early harvest.
Setting off a series of questions about how the impact of climate change and the use of pesticides means for the future of the olive tree and for olive oil production in general, Drinkwater goes on a quest to ‘find out what stage agriculture stopped working with nature.’ Her journey is intelligently written about, and thoroughly researched with lots of historical exposition on the various places she visits. Interspersed with numerous cultural stops and diversions along the way – she encounters the caves of Altamira, investigates the linkage between the mafia and olive producers in Sicily, and meets a 3000 year old wild olive tree amongst the wilderness of Sardegna – the story contains some wonderfully evocative vignettes, written in prose that ignites the reader’s imagination.
Although the relentless focus of the book is on the olives, this is also a fascinating insight into the nuances and linkages between cultures past and present, one that both fans and newcomers to the Drinkwater series should enjoy.
By Jane Duru
Publisher: Orion Books
Price: £7.99
ISBN: 978-0-7538-2612-6
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