The Olive Tree

Olive #5

by Carol Drinkwater

Fifth volume in the bestselling Olive series by writer and actress Carol Drinkwater.

THE OLIVE TREE charts Carol Drinkwater's colourful and often dangerous journey in search of the routes that olive cultivation has taken over the centuries. Set during a springtime Mediterranean that is evocative and perennial, it is above all a tale of our time.

Troubled by challenges her own South of France farm is experiencing, Carol realises new approaches to farming are becoming essential.
Her quest takes her south through Spain, Morocco, Algeria and Italy before she finally returns to her farm.

Through her travels and vivid encounters, Carol confronts some of the critical issues of our time - land-care and the harsh realities of diminishing water reserves - and ends her momentous journey in the company of olive growers whose vision for the future is remarkable and ingenious.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Audiobook, Gardening, Nature, Biography

434 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Carol Drinkwater is an Anglo-Irish actress, author and filmmaker.

Reviews

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reminded me of On the Noodle Road, a book I also didn't particularly like, albeit this one was written first. Carol Drinkwater goes on a deeply personal journey across the Mediterranean to find the origins of the olive. She has an olive farm and presses olive oil but she wants to understand more. The problem with a deeply personal journey is just that, it is deeply personal. The things she sees, the people she meets, the adventures she has are all seen through the lens of the olive (and the Argan tree, which was interesting because several years ago when I bought some moisturizer, it was all about Argan oil and I had no clue. Perhaps if I had read this at the time, I would have been more knowledgeable. But instead I was mostly bored. Drinkwater has a pleasant voice though the difference between British/European and American pronunciations became annoying rather than amusing over the nearly 15 hours. I didn't feel that I learned anything that I could apply to my own life. Toward the end when she started to look more broadly at desertification and grafting it was more useful, but the rest of her adventures were too personal to have larger meaning to me. It didn't want to make me want to follow her path, though I would certainly go to Spain and look into Olive Oil rather than Italy. But it was many hours for that revelation.

[Brigid Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Carol Drinkwater's Olive trilogy several years ago, as well as her exploration of the olive tree and its history around the Eastern Mediterranean in The Olive Route.
The Olive Tree completes the circle, taking the reader through Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Sicily, Sardinia and Italy.
She fills each page with interesting insights on her travels and the people who support her on her journey, the history of the olive tree and its fruits, as well as emerging and ancient methods of horticulture.

[David Canford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Carol’s first book about the house she and Michel bought in the hills above Cannes in the south of France and throughly enjoyed it. In the overgrown grounds they find olive trees and become olive oil producers.
In this book, the author travels the western Mediterranean in search of the history of olive cultivation. ( There is a first volume where she travels the eastern Mediterranean).
Fortunately the time spent describing olives and their cultivation is not overdone and most of the book is about the places she visits and their history.
Her writing is excellent - warm and wonderfully descriptive.
She is also an intrepid traveller, unfazed by several challenging circumstances she encounters. Of particular interest for me was reading of her time in North Africa, especially Algeria, a country where few westerners venture, but from what I’ve seen on the documentary, ‘Above Algeria’, surprising and quite stunning.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2002, Carol Drinkwater published her memoir of finding a new life and career when she purchased an olive farm in France. It was a wonderful book, and subsequently, the author wrote several follow-ups about her farm and life in France. With The Olive Tree, Drinkwater journeys around the Mediterranean, searching for the origins and new information/stories about the olive tree itself.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Not only was this a charming travelogue, with visits to far flung places and interesting people, but Carol Drinkwater managed to make her interest in olive farming fascinating to me. There were many times I feared for her, a lone woman traveling in Spain, the Middle East and Italy. There were many times I envied her - savoring the food and the culture of these exotic locales. I was amazed that she stumbled upon a 3,000 year old olive tree, and I was interested in the effects of climate and modern business practices upon the end product - that bottle of extra virgin olive oil that made it's way to my kitchen. But the trip was a harsh one, and I was glad she enabled me to come along without the struggles she endured. I highly recommend this book to anyone who like to armchair travel with a taste for learning.

[Jacquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep wanting to like Carol's books, but I find her blunt descriptions of people, sentence structure (some read like a really great, long, convoluted German sentence) or Yoda-esque (Like it, did you not?) a bit off-putting. There are some gems in here, but it is hard to wade through to find them. It sort of reads like a boozy travelogue with a really interesting subject. I still really like her first book, but not so much on the others... and yet I keep reading them.

[Rebecca Wilkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Carol Drinkwater on PBS. Apparently she was the actress to play Helen Herriot in the first ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL made 50 years ago. She now lives in the South of France on an olive farm. She loves olives and is interested in the history of olives and growing olives in a climate damaged world. In this book she travels alone to Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Sicily, Mezzogiorno, Sardegna and Northern Italy. So this book is a travel story as well as a history book and a book about olive trees. I found it very interesting. Some of the places she went and all the travel hardships would be a little difficult to take but she was earnestly searching for old olive trees and ways to propagate them and have them help in lands where water is getting increasingly unavailable. I am going to copy a paragraph from near the end of the book:

An olive farmer in Tuscany says: "I want a tree that will instinctively know how to survive, how to fight back when the waters of the world run dry. Because the planet is hotting up lady. Over one hundred countries are already suffering water deficit. Here, in Europe, a third of Spain is in trouble. Cyprus, too, as well as Sardegna, Sicilia and mainland Greece. The wars that will be fought will be fought over water. We will need those new olive trees."

I didn't entirely understand but apparently olive trees root system can actually hydrate soil. As someone living in the western USA, I have seen the drought conditions continue to worsen in the past few years. It was scary to read that in certain areas of Algeria homes have tap water available only 2 hours per day. We are living in desert-like conditions and I am afraid what the man above says about water wars is the future. If planting olive trees will turn deserts into savannas then perhaps we need more olive trees.

I also got Carol Drinkwater's book THE ILLUSTRATED OLIVE FARM which has beautiful photos of her home Appassionata in southern France. You can see why she loves living there.

[Emily Rosenberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mulle väga meeldis mõte raamatust, kus kirjeldatakse reisi ümber Vahemere ja oliivide fännina tundus ka temaatika sobiv. Kuigi raamatus oli nii üht kui teist huvitavat, jäi see ikkagi kohmakaks, venivaks ja üksluiseks kirjelduseks vahemereäärsete rahvaste kultuurist läbi kergelt üleoleva ameerikaliku pilgu. Tundus, et autor püüdis tavapärast reisiraamatut vürtsitada faktidega oliivipuust, kuid kahjuks kaotas sellest nii reisikirjeldus kui oliivipuude ja nende ajaloo tutvustamine. Kümmekond blogipostitust ilusate piltidega oleks olnud palju parem alternatiiv peaaegu 400 leheküljelisele raamatule.

[Cthonus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where 'The Olive Farm' sets the scene in the scrubland above Cannes and the Cote d'Azur with it's idyllic descriptions of the sights and smells of the region The Olive Tree cuts through the underlying romanticism with heartrending clarity, proving this is just as much personal memoir as it is a travelogue of sorts.

Ms Drinkwater's writing flows as smoothly as her olive oil and it's so easy to find you've whiled away an hour or so joining her and her family as they strive to keep and expand their enterprize.

[Wayne Jordaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the first two books in this series and found them enjoyable reads, because I am fascinated by the lives of those who are striving to derive a livelihood from the soil through cultivation. This book focused less on the farm of the author but more on the changes that impact on olive cultivation around the Mediterranean basin, an ancient practice. A fascinating account illustrating man's ability to innovate, counteracted by man's greed.

[Gill James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating account of the olive-growing business and the author’s journey through many lands to find out more about it. This book really makes the reader think. One has to admire Carol Drinkwater’s thorough research and her bravery in travelling alone. She writes in an engaging style and this text is very readable. I was however, somewhat surprised and rather irritated by the many opening speech marks that were missing

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The history of the olive tree and the countries that Carol visits is fascinating, and Carol's passion makes it a very engaging book. Having said that, it took me a few weeks to read because there was a lot to absorb. Her earlier books on her own olive farm are still my favourites as I love reading about her life on the farm, the people who share her journey, and the country.

[V.F. Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feast your mind with olive history!

This is the second book on a series about olives, the tree and its products. As you read you will be taken on a wonderful journey of the Western Mediterranean. To many places off the beaten path where you will feel in your mind the experiences of the author. Highly recommended!

[Piisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Drinkwater's books are a pleasure to read. Through out this book, as well as the other book dealing with the eastern bit of the Med on her quest into the history of the olive tree and olive oil, she takes a lot = l-o-t of photos but the books don't have any photos. Her writing describes everything as if there were photos. This book was yet another good charity shop find.

[Stuart Nutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history book

Carol doesn't take so many personal risks in this book as she did in the eastern Mediterranean, but still enough to be rather silly. Lots of research, lots of history, and lots of ideas but in my opinion they should be listed in chronological order, then the two books together could be considered as serious works.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook.
Carol narrates the story of her adventures looking for the originals of the Olive Tree and the changing patterns of cultivation and management of Olive plantations. She encounters some 'interesting' times during her travels.

[Sara]

I listened to more than half of this book on audiobook. But they file I have downloaded form the Libby was damaged and couldn't finish the book to rate the book correctly. I enjoyed the half that I read.

[Leila Kern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting especially with the history of olives and the olive making. Very descriptive for the armchair traveler.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally ploughed my way through to the end of this incredibly boring book, grateful for small mercies and really wishing I didn't have this fixation about finishing books I start.

[Mary Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

For whatever reason I did not find this as enchanting as her previous books. Perhaps that is because it is too realistic given it takes place in the Middle East.

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, my first Carol Drinkwater book, and now will be looking to get pretty much every else she has written.

[Marina Shemesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It still boggles the mind that a book about renovating an old house in France was published in the first place. But I, together with a lot of other people, enjoy reading this kind of travel book. As long as it is set in either France or Italy! Maybe it is the mix of descriptions of the lovely food and eccentric locals that grabs our attention.

The author, Carol Drinkwater, is a well known British author and actress. She is probably best known for her role as the vet’s wife in the series “All Creatures Great and Small”. In the book “The Olive Farm” Carol Drinkwater describes how she finally succumbed to her life-long dream of owning a “house-by-the-sea”.

She and her partner Michel, a French producer, stumbled by chance on Appassionata in Provence, southern France, and decided to buy the run-down farm on an impulse.

There is quite an amusing description of how Carol and Michel went to meet the rich owner of the farm in Brussels, trying to convince her that they were worthy buyers. When she offered to give them a ride to their car, a beaten-up vehicle filled to the brim with their earthly possessions, they pretended to “forgot” where they had parked.

After they had finally managed to scrape together enough money for a down payment, they set out to start make Appassionata livable> Continuing working hard at their professions in order to afford the renovations and the rest of the payments.

The first of their worries was the lack of running water. The water-less situation was even more desperate because Michael invited his two teenage daughters along on their first stay at the olive farm. The two girls expected to dive into a sparkling blue pool, not to camp out at a ramshackle house.

No sooner have all the bureaucratic knots been untied to get the water flowing when a terrifying fire breaks out that nearly burns down Appassionata and all the ancient olive trees. The action does not stop there and we are entertained with stories about the strange neighbors, workers who drink all the beer and the rescue of an odd assortment of dogs.

In between writing about the olive farm and all the stuff that is going on there, Carol Drinkwater also writes about their professional lives away from the farm. This for me was less interesting but the contrast between Appassionata and the rest of the world was notable.

“The Olive Farm” is the first book of a series and is followed by the book “The Olive Season”. Carol Drinkwater got hooked on olives and the process of making olive oil just like anybody else living in the Mediterranean. Her description near the end of the book of visits to two oil presses was quite fascinating.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, I didn't know (even from skimming the back cover summary) that this was a travelogue. I was expecting some sort of self-discovery of a middle aged woman that had to do with olive farms, something that reminded me of a movie that came out years ago that I don't even remember but seems to be the same sort of thing (Under the Tuscan Sun, I think). Instead, I got a travelogue of a woman who might be fairly interesting in the flesh, but really just came across as boring in print.

It did make me realize as I hadn't before that a travelogue can focus on a lot of different aspects, not all of which are the least bit interesting to me. For instance, the author delves into the history (I mean, the WAY BACK Phoenician/Roman history) of many of the places that she visits and then skips a good look at the present-day culture. Also, her writing was just not believable. She'd be enraptured by something insignificant one minute and then just devastated about something inane the next. Last, I understand her quest revolved around a search for old olive trees or something, but just picturing her asking strangers about the history of olive growing and the location of this or that specific variety of olive or an explanation of some process or trend or way of doing things made me uncomfortable. I was picturing a solitary, bookish middle-aged woman asking questions to people who didn't have a clue about the answers, just pushing and pushing and pushing to know more about her precious olive tree obsession. It seemed like she was missing the forest for the tree (pun intended)!

[Kate McKinstry · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I missed reading about life at Appassionata, I found myself engrossed in thechanging landscapes, colors, and personalities that made up this book. The book was more educational than drinkwater's other narrratives, and i appreciated the history and descriptions of the places she visited. I also learned a great deal about what the olive tree has to offer a part of the world already challenged by lack of water, and how damaging over-farming is to the planet, not just the Mediterranean. Another wonderful, though-provoking, and character-laden book from Carol Drinkwater.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little arm-chair traveling with the author as she circumnavigates the Mediterranean Sea searching the origins of the olive tree. Lots of facts, some interesting, but probably more than I needed to know. I did learn a lot about olive tree farming, olive oil production and the areas of Spain, Morocco, Algiers, Sicily and Italy, places I probably will never see. I couldn't help worrying about a woman traveling alone to some dangerous places and those who may have to rescue her if she got in a bad situation.

[Nicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started of really enjoying this and for some reason got stuck about two thirds of the way through. I really enjoyed the first part in Spain and was interested in North Africa but I found it too long and a bit dull. I've enjoyed the descriptions of the people and places the author met, but haven't enjoyed the story of the olive trees. I'm not sure I'd read another travel book by the author, but would prefer more stories from the farm.

[Leila · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I accept that this is a popular book in general,on a purely personal level I was disappointed as I found it quite heavy going. I have to admit to skipping on and off during the second half of the book. I thought it would be an interesting autobiographical novel about Carol's life on her olive farm but it was more to do with lots of information and anecdotes about olives.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and it had a lot of information historical and current. it was a bit plodding at times but most of the characters the author met even briefly were described in a way that made them believable.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, a worthy follow up to the Olive route which charts the authors second leg of her journey for the history of the Olive tree.
Fascinating historical backgrounds and beautiful, descriptive style of writing to illustrate the beauty of the areas visited.

[C.interruptus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyable, but wordy. And of all the olive tree scholars she consulted, I kept thinking, Come on, there must be one or two *historians* of the olive tree who could answer a few of her endless questions about ancient olive trees and where to find them.

[Clare Tissiman connolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was much more interested in the farm house and farming than their personal life and scripts, filming and theatre which is why I have been so harsh most people would enjoy it but if you are into gardening, building and farming it might not be the book for you .