Set mainly in Crete from the summer of 1936 to 1944.

Eleni lives with her father in Gosport and visits get Grandfather in Crete each summer. In 1936, she is allowed to go on her own without her chaperone Miss Finch.

In the villa next door to her grandfather a German family visits, the mother is suffering from MS and is concerned what would happen should the Nazi's find out, her daughter Krista and son Otto who is on his summer break from university who knows once he graduates the following year he will be called up for National Service...

Eleni meets Otto and a clandestine relationship begins....after the summer she returns back to the UK and gets a job in London. She communicates with Otto and the following summer they meet up in Paris.

In 1943 while working in the War Office, Eleni manages to get a job under cover working in Crete.... when Crete falls to the Nazi, she stays and works undercover .

A great read, very enjoyable.

A story of first, and deep love set against the beautiful backdrop of Crete. However, this is 1936 and there are rumblings of war in Europe. We meet Eleni, part English part Greek and the lovely family she spends her summers with, after the death of her Cretan mother. Such a warm, joyous family living in a paradise - Jenny Ashcroft describes the heat, the scents, the flora, the coves, the sea and the scenery so clearly. (So evocative you immediately want to go back there); I only wish I had a Grandpa Yorgos!

Eleni meets a boy from the next cove, while out swimming. Their friendship grows into something much deeper, but then the summer has to finish... and they go back to their respective countries.

World War II rears its ugly head and things quickly deteriorate. The story covers the German invasion of Crete and, although it is fiction, many of the characters are real (see author's note at back). A horrifying account of the Nazi atrocities which were carried out on innocent people and villages then follows, together with the stories of brave people of many nations (who were evacuated from the mainland initially). who along with the Cretans formed an effective resistance.

Being fiction, this is told from our characters' point of view, the leading part of the story coming from an anonymous interviewee for a documentary in 1974 about the invasion. So, it's personal. It's also powerful and moving. I defy anyone not to cry at the penultimate chapter. I loved it - it's something I want to know about when I'm sitting on those beaches - we need to remember how things can go so horribly wrong. Loved the author's notes too.

What a stunning novel! WWII is an era that I find fascinating, so I’ve read quite a few novels set during those years. Never, however, have I read about Crete during WWII. Having now finished this epic novel, I almost feel like I’ve lived in Crete during WWII! The amount of research that has gone into writing this book is blatantly obvious and the locations just come alive as you read! Amazing! And this is even before we get to the love story between the two main characters and all the heartache that ensues. Did I cry? Yes, I did!

Three words to describe it. Epic. Heart-breaking. Evocative.

Do I like the cover? Absolutely gorgeous!

This is an epic love story set amidst the occupation of Crete during the Second World War. The huge cast of characters were overwhelming in parts but they each had something to add to the story. The horrors and hardships of war are vividly portrayed and the strength and courage of the resistance and locals well researched.
It is the love story between Eleni and Otto,their unwavering trust in each other and their families which is the heart of this story. The tension mounts as the war continues and senseless acts of betrayal and destruction take place.

Beginning with a transcript in 1974 about Eleni Adams at Broadcasting House. It is an interesting way to start and leads back to the events in 1936, Crete, with the transcript intercepting the main story, giving extra insights. A dangerous time and not far off the cusp of war as Hitler is on the march and the likes of Punch Magazine depicting the road to war in satirical cartoons and trips through Italy with Mussolini in charge have to be made. The book is set between Portsmouth in the UK and Crete, a Greek island. There’s almost an innocence of how this time must have been, against the ensuing darkness that looms, with Hitler being more in the news reels and then an innocent kitten being around and the emotion surrounding that. The characters do enter war times and everything changes as he begins his invasions and what he thinks of the Jews and of Jazz and Swing music.
It, however, never loses sight of it being a war-time story of love and how things change and how it is remembered. Not everything where love is concerned is simple as the book slips through the three very different time eras with great fluidity.

The book is poignant with the reverberations of love and atrocities of war and what the German Nazis had created can be felt deeply and yet it has beautiful writing that has a truth, and yet a softness and not a coarseness surrounding all the events of the day and the people affected in so many different ways.

At the end is an author’s note about how the book was, in part inspired by her own family and about Crete and more… This is a book I highly recommend you lose yourself in.

Thank you to HQ Stories for your invitation to join the blog tour for the new book by Jenny Ashcroft, The Echoes of Love. Jenny is a new author to me and I loved the sound of the synopsis above.

The book starts with someone (only known as #17) being interviewed about events in Crete during the Second World war and this happens at regular intervals during the book.

The story is mainly told by Eleni and Otto, two young people who meet on the Greek island of Crete in 1936. For a few short weeks, they start to spend time together and fall in love, despite knowing that their lives will be complicated by living in different countries.

Despite their best efforts to help their future selves by learning new languages, they are unable to continue their relationship and then the war starts.

Eleni is head hunted in 1940 to return to Crete to work with SOE, due to her linguistic talents, after spending her summers in Crete with her grandfather. Eleni is a brave young woman who helps the people of Crete stand up to the Nazi party. But what will happen when Otto, once the love of her life, arrives in Crete with the German Army?

The book moves backwards and forwards in time, so that we don’t find out for ages, why Eleni and Otto split up when he failed to meet her in Paris in 1938. Had he fallen out of love or did he have to marry Lotte, daughter of a high ranking official in the Nazi party?

After a week of struggling to read much, I picked up this book on my day off and found myself flying through the pages, desperate to know what would happen next for Eleni, Otto and their families. Jenny Ashcroft has brought the past to life, the beauty of Crete and the terror of the German occupation.

Although I’ve ready many historical fiction books recently, this is the first one set in Crete and it is heartbreaking to read about the impact of the war on the local people. Because of the nature of war, this was a heartbreaking read in places but also a reminder that we cannot pick who we fall in love with.

This is a beautifully written and emotional book, full of historical detail and a love story. I’m thrilled to have discovered a new author and plan to read her previous books too. Happy to recommend to readers of my reviews.

This was a beautiful love story that quickly captured my heart and I could not put the book down. I could not read the book fast enough, so absorbed I was in Eleni and Otto’s story. If I could have given it more than 5 stars, I most certainly would have done!

Heading to Crete in the summer of 1936, this book starts off quite uncomplicated. The second World War is on the horizon, but life remains innocent and free. This is personified by Eleni’s behaviour, despite her rather strained relationship with her father. Spending each summer with her grandfather, it is the summer of 1936 that changes her life forever.

Meeting Otto, Eleni is instantly drawn to this German young man. Despite differences in their language and families, the two cannot help but spend increasing time with each other, leading to a blossoming relationship. Of course, summer holidays have to end and this is heart-breaking for both Otto and Eleni. It is the first of many goodbyes and as war breaks out in Europe, their positions become compromised.

Ashcroft moves forward in time thanks to the journalist interviews taking place in 1976. This gives a rough outline of the section to follow and fills in the gaps, like a summary, before the narrative shows exactly what happened. As such, readers learn about how Eleni’s life changes after that glorious summer in Crete, eventually leading to her having a significant role in the resistance of an island she loves. It is at the peak of the war that Otto and Eleni’s paths cross, this time with the Nazi regime threatening everything they know.

This was such a fascinating and absorbing novel. I thought I had an idea of how Ashcroft would develop the story but I was wrong on each account. It is so cleverly written, particularly the asides, making the characters so vivid and believable. I felt like I was with Eleni and experienced the emotions she did: falling in love for the first time, the yearning from long-distance relationships, and the fear of being discovered. She is such a strong, likeable character that I could not help but be impressed by her strength and ambition to help others, especially when she is sent to Crete.

However, this book is not just about Eleni and through the letters between her and Otto, we find out more about his background and life in Germany. Otto’s character reflects the anguish of being forced to follow the Nazi regime and how even he became a victim of it. His love for Eleni is one of every woman’s dreams and I was desperate to see them go from strength to strength, even with the knowledge that such a relationship during the war would be difficult.

Even when it felt like nothing could prevent the events unfolding, I was thrilled by the change of direction in Ashcroft’s narrative. In this sense, I thought this made this book even more enjoyable and different to other books set during the war. Coupled with the sunny location, I felt transported to another world, although this climate truly juxtaposed with the horrors that took place on the island. Some of the scenes described were chilling and I could not imagine how Otto and Eleni managed to keep strong in such testing times.

This book made me laugh, it made me cry, and everything in between. It is my first read from Ashcroft and it definitely cannot be my last. I enjoyed it so much, I am quite sorry to have finished it, but it is definitely up there in my top reads of the year.

With thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I got The Echoes of Love by Jenny Ashcroft for free from NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

The Echoes of Love by Jenny Ashcroft tells the story of how World War 2 affected both the Greek Island of Crete, as a whole as locals and people who are connected with the island.

Set around a love story between a German boy and a half Greek and English female.


There are many times when I have read love stories set to the backdrop of a conflict where the individuals are on both sides of the war. Which fall down on the emotional connection or the historical nature of the story.

This is absolutely not the case with Jenny Ashcroft’s novel, the way that she layers the story with a depth that I have rarely found in novels.

Firstly when the story starts in 1936 we are introduced to a range of characters who have individual characteristics, while some are more in depth than others, all of them have more than enough to help the story along.

In addition, there are many stories that are set around the conflicts that start in the preceding months before it starts. However in The Echoes of Love, it starts 3 years before the conflict starts as a whole and 5 years before the Island of Crete was invaded.

This allowed the writer to really build up a much better back story to the characters while allowing them to show that while the official start of the war in Europe was 1939, many people were having their lives altered and changed by events already.

For me there are many things I can go on to praise this novel from the way that Jenny Ashcroft built the tension in the story by allowing it to flow in such a way that each step was subtle enough that it was like a dripping tape rather than a gush of water.

The reason this worked was as I said earlier characters were allowed to develop in a way that they had a depth, which meant that as each character did what they did you never felt that it came out of the blue.

I have read a number of series which by the end of the book you knew that the writer had built this amount of characterisation in the story but rarely have I seen it done this well in a stand alone novel.

All this makes The Echoes of Love by Jenny Ashcroft a must read novel for people who love in depth character building.

An unforgettable love story set mainly in Crete from 1936 to its fall in 1941 and through its occupation during WW2. The intricate sense of place and time immerses the reader in this story with its believably vibrant characters. Emotional and lyrical, the novel explores love in its many forms centred on the young couple Eleni and Otto, who meet and fall in love in 1936 but against the backdrop of WW2, their love takes on new meaning and poignancy. Full of vivid sensory imagery and world-building, this is an addictive read that resonates.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This book absolutely blew me away and it's one of those novels which stays with you long after you've read it. I loved Otto and Eleni from the otset and their story is so touching. At tines the book literally had me in tears. It is beautifully written. It's the first of Jenny's books I've read and I'm now going to look for more. Highly recommend this book.

I devoured this book over a couple of days and got completely lost in Eleni’s story. Her strength and compassion was written about so beautifully and I loved how she had such feelings for the place she felt so at home in. It’s an emotional and heartbreaking story full of wonderful characters who each have a huge part to play in Eleni’s life.
The horrors of war are written about sensitively, yet you are left in no doubt about the suffering the people of Crete went through. A beautiful read.

Elini visits Crete every year to spend time with her grandfather in the years before WW2, in 1936 she meets a young German, Otto and strikes top s friendship with him. The story them moves on to the German invasion and subsequent struggles.
I am afraid to say that the story wasn't for me, although many others may enjoy it. I found the first half very slow, although it did pick up after that when the invasion of Crete took place. It did highlight the brutality of war, the courage of those in Crete who fought against the Germans, but also that not all the enemy were bad, just normal men caught up in events outside of their control. This is especially relevant in what is happening at this time.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

I love novels that tell of World War 2 history in an informative, non boring way! I didn’t realise how Crete had been taken over by the Germans for so long and the impact it had in the island. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Eleni and Otto’s story of young love, tempered with the trials and tribulations of growing up on opposite sides during a war. Love really does conquer all and I couldn’t have guessed the ending.
Very informative and a good read.

Ahh, what a read! This gives the impression of being painstakingly researched and has obviously got the benefit of personal interest and knowledge. It explores a little talked about history of WW2 and brings to life the island of Crete. Beyond that, it is a well crafted story. I love the character of Eleni, avant guard, strong and willing to break any boundary that was unjustly imposed on her. I liked the device of the anonymous interview. It was used really well and kept you guessing about the plot line. I suppose I would have liked more detail about Eleni’s resistance activities rather than the large amount of dialogue given of her relationship with Otto. I liked however that Otto was heroic, despite being German. All in all, a thoroughly fulfilling read

What a beautiful novel. So romantic, so epic, so tear-jerking. I absolutely adored it and can't wait to read the next Jenny Ashcroft novel. Five stars all round!

Eleni spends all her summer holidays with her grandfather in Crete. Her Greek mother is dead and her father is in the Royal Navy and she loves her time in Crete.
She arrives in 1935 expecting a long hot summer as usual. However, staying at the next villa is a German family and Eleni falls in love but war is beckoning. At the end of the summer they part but in 1941 both find themselves back on the island on different sides.
Can their love survive now they are enemies and what dangers lie ahead for them?

This is another well researched novel by this author which this time has personal meaning as it is set on the island of Crete and the author has a Greek family background.
The story is about Eleni who is half English and spends every Summer on Crete with her Greek Grandfather and other relatives. In the Summer of 1936 at the age of 19 she meets Otto, a young German who is on the island for the first time. He is with his family and friends staying in a villa near Eleni’s, escaping the situation in Germany where his friend, Marianne’s family are being badly treated due to their Jewish faith.
Gradually Eleni and Otto fall in love and even after they leave the Island they continue to meet up. However soon the war comes and it is 1941- Eleni and Otto are on different sides and it looks as if they will not be able to see each other again. When Eleni returns to Crete, working for the SOE she discovers Otto again and their lives become very complicated.
This is a love story set in the war and against all the odds. I sensed early on that it might not have a happy ending but I wasn’t sure how it would unfold. There is a massive twist at the end which I really didn’t see coming.
Eleni and Otto are both excellent characters who are well drawn and they really come to life in the story which is heartbreaking at times.
As in all this author’s books there is evidence that a lot of research has been undertaken. I knew little about the history of Crete and as well as enjoying the love story I learnt a lot about the island’s wartime history.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read with a cast of well rounded and interesting characters. Definitely recommended as a five star book to readers who like historical fiction.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for my advance copy.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I have enjoyed the story and can fully recommend it to those who love historical fiction. The story has been well written with a surprising conclusion.
Eleni and Otto are the main characters, and the story is mainly set in Crete before and during the Second World War. She is half Cretan and spends every summer on the island with her grandfather. Otto is German and staying there for the first time. This is a story of first love under difficult times. I will not spoil it by giving away too much after they meet up again. Read it for yourself, you will enjoy it.

The Echoes Of Love by Jenny Ashcroft is a marvellous historical novel that totally consumed me.
The action is mainly set during World War II on the occupied island of Crete. It also features Crete in 1936 and also an interview in 1974 with subject #17. The interview intersperses the action as #17 tells of what he did and saw in Crete during WWII. We ‘see’ some of the war through #17’s eyes but mainly through the eyes of the two lead characters.
1936 Crete was a time of gaiety, warmth and freedom. It was in complete contrast to the grey constricting Germany where the clouds of war were darkening. In Crete characters could be themselves. There was no such thing as forbidden love.
Life in London during WWII also contrasted with the brightness of Crete.
A much needed skill in languages came into its own in the war. We witness the bravery and the ability to blend in as a character returns to Crete to the summers of their youth, to help with the war effort, in the hope of saving lives.
The whole novel is beautifully written. It is a timeless love affair, cruelly interrupted by war. It is also a book of memories – memories that have haunted a character for nearly thirty years.
The Echoes Of Love is a mesmerising tale that consumed me and I just could not put it down. It is undeniably beautiful
I received a free copy from the publishers for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

This is the first book I have read by this author and I really enjoyed it. I found the story well thought out and meaningful. The characters where good with good chemistry between them. Recommended.