When Olive Trees Burn
Alex Axerio
Type: Beta project
Genre: Historical fiction, literary
Word count: 62,000
Warnings: Graphic violence, graphic sexual content, swearing
Spain, 1936. As civil war tears the country apart, Lola flees a life chosen for her and becomes a journalist among revolutionaries and soldiers. Through love, loss, and moral collapse, she learns survival does not always mean victory. As Spain falls, Lola is forged—claiming her voice when everything else is lost, in a world remade by politics and violence.
Spain, 1936. As the country fractures under the weight of civil war, Lola Pérez de Traba flees a life chosen for her and steps into the chaos of revolution. Determined to become a journalist, she moves through Barcelona’s political ferment, the front lines, and the flight of a defeated nation, witnessing how ideals splinter and eventually betray those who hold them.
Through love and loss, Lola confronts the brutal cost of political conviction and the limits of moral certainty. Family ties are severed, faith is tested, and survival becomes an act of resistance rather than triumph. As Spain collapses around her, Lola is forced to decide who she will be when no cause remains pure and no future is guaranteed.
When Olive Trees Burn is a literary historical novel about becoming oneself in a world coming apart, and about the quiet, defiant power of bearing witness when history demands silence.
Alex Axerio writes literary historical fiction at the intersection of war, politics, love and gender. She is also an award-winning politics journalist who has reported from five continents. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in French literature and a Master’s degree in Journalism. She lives in Europe.
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