Talking Location With author Philip Bowne – BLED, SLOVENIA

7th October 2020

#TalkingLocationWith… Philip Bowne, author of Cows Can’t Jump, novel set across Europe. Here the author focusses on BLED.

 As part of my research for my debut novel Cows Can’t Jump, I got on a plane to Slovenia, went to a place called Bled, and swam to the island in the middle of the lake there.

Bled was to be the setting for the climax of my novel, so I thought it was important that I experience for myself what I was going to put my protagonist through: a gruelling open water swim. It was only fair. Plus, I hoped it would add an element of authenticity to the writing. Even if all I took from the experience was one, tiny specific detail, I thought it would be worth doing.

Cows Can’t Jump follows Billy, an 18-year-old gravedigger and his chaotic journey across Europe to find Eva – the Swiss girl he is love-sick for. Without giving too much away – the Bled scene is the climax to Billy’s journey. He swims to the church in the hope of finding Eva there, and reconciling their relationship.

The swim was much harder than I thought it would be. I’ve never been much of a swimmer, and it was the first time I had ever swum in open water. I didn’t think I had a fear of water until I did that swim. There was something so terrifying and lonely out there in the middle of the lake. I was totally alone, except for the traditional wooden Pletna boats ferrying groups of tourists from the lakeshore to the island. I had a few moments of panic – I’m not the best swimmer – but eventually I managed to get to the island and pull myself out of the water, onto a wooden deck. I was cold, tired and breathless. But I made it.

The experience massively helped with my writing process. I rely heavily on location for inspiration. I struggle to picture a scene in a place I’ve never been before. I am a very visual writer, I think. I pull elements of the landscape into the story in different ways. I need a strong sense of setting in order to understand how my characters are going to behave in that place.

To me, Bled was the perfect place to tell a story.

The dramatic peaks of the Julian Alps surround the town, protecting the tiny jewel from the rest of the world. When I first visited Bled at 19, I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it before, or even seen a photograph of the iconic lake. Perhaps the mountains had been concealing it, I thought. Wrapping their arms around the lake and keeping it secret from everyone else. Shielding its beauty from the outside world.

For me, Bled has a cinematic quality. There is a vastness to the landscape that completely takes your breath away. I remember hiking up to the Mala Osojnica viewpoint. From high up there, the landscape is reflected on the glassy lake. You can see thousands of pines and firs standing to attention. Above them, Bled’s 1000-year-old castle is perched on a cliff-edge overlooking the water. Apparently, enemies of the court were once thrown over the castle walls. Beyond it, the mountains rise up from the earth. Grooves worn into the alpine slopes look like veins running through the mountainside. Above that, their snow-capped peaks break through clouds and into the sky.

And there’s the impossibility of the tiny island in the middle of the lake, with its chocolate-box church. Sitting there, taunting you. It’s like something you can almost reach out and touch but that you can never quite grasp. That is a recurring theme in Cows Can’t Jump. Desire and lack. Characters wanting things and not getting them. Or characters getting what they want and realising that it doesn’t satisfy or complete them. Realising that life is lack. That there will always be something missing. That sounds depressing, but it’s not intended to be. It’s about understanding and accepting that lack is part of our human condition and appreciating what we do have. You might be wondering what that thing is.

It’s beauty, I think. In nature, in people, in doing the things we enjoy. Bled, for me, is the perfect setting to illustrate that. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Philip Bowne

Buy Now

Catch Philip on Twitter

join team TripFiction on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)

Subscribe to future blog posts