Peacocks in Paradise by Anna Nicholas

Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for Peacocks in Paradise by Anna Nicholas and published by Burro Books.

About the Book

The long-awaited seventh title in Anna Nicholas’s humorous travel series about how to live the dream in a Mediterranean country. The author explores different local cultural themes in each title. Anna delves into the island’s authentic heartland, exploring nature reserves, bird sanctuaries and paprika, fruit and almond farms. On her travels, she meets the makers of siurell whistles, palm leaf baskets, hot sauces and ensaimada pastries, and revels in visiting local producers of wine, craft beer, gin and brandy – and Mallorca’s famed herbes liqueur. Meanwhile, she and chum, Alison, are tackling all 54 Tramuntana peaks over 1,000m, enduring the arduous overnight Guell hike to Lluc Monastery along the way.

About the Author

Anna Nicholas is of Celtic origin & has lived for 18 years in rural Mallorca. An inveterate traveller & experienced freelance journalist, she regularly participates in humanitarian aid expeditions overseas with British explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell, CBE and is a Fellow of the RGS. She ran her own PR company in Mayfair, London, for 20 years, was a Guinness Book of Records adjudicator alongside the book’s founder, Norris McWhirter, CBE, and as a rookie press officer at charity Help the Aged, handled events for Princess Diana. She runs an international marathon annually for her favourite causes.

My Review

There are nicer ways to be woken than a hearing the screeching of a peacock, but the most recent addition to their ever-growing menagerie has a habit of waking them at some ungodly hour before the alarm goes off. She glances out of the window and sees the sun lighting the Tramuntana mountains. One very strong cup of coffee later and they are ready to face the day.

The peacock is just one of the numerous animals that they have around their home. Over the course of the book, they seem to end up with an endless influx of other animals as well as finding a large number of kittens on their property. They have a full and entertaining life there in Mallorca, her son has left home now and is in other parts of Europe, they miss him, but he is travelling as she did at the same age.

They are fully embedded in life on the island and you sense from the scenes she describes with the neighbours that they have got deep and long-lasting friendships with neighbours and others around the islands. They are partial to good food and wine, and they are always travelling around in their battered mini to all sorts of different places to meet various food and wine producers of the island. They are often out to lunch with friends or visiting organisations that are trying to help local species and protect the local environment. There is a little part of the story in London too. In her past life, Nicholas was a PR and old friends want to use her skills to help launch a new set of products in Mallorca. Whilst in London it gives her time to catch up with some old friends that she wouldn’t normally see.

I really enjoyed this. It is a welcome break from the gloom of the pandemic that keeps rumbling on. Nicholas writes in a chatty style as she tells us about her extremely busy life in Mallorca. She is really good at extracting the details from the things that she is doing, whether that is the walking challenge that she undertakes with her friend up the fifty-four peaks over 1000m or the time spent at a number of vineyards or just the interactions with her friends and neighbours on a daily basis. She is a good saleswoman too because having read about the island I now want to visit it and see it for myself. Even though this is the seventh book in the series, this is the first of the series that I have read. I do have one of the others and as I really enjoyed this I am going to make an effort to get and read the others.

Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour